Turk Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, seen here in a file photo, urged the EU to ease sanctions on northern Cyprus.

ANKARA (AFP) - Turkey and the Turkish-Cypriot community of northern Cyprus urged the European Union yesterday to implement promised measures to ease the international isolation of the breakaway third of the divided island.

“Unfortunately, what has to be done has not yet been done... The EU’s credibility will be shattered if it does not fulfill its promises,” Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters.

He was speaking after talks here with Mehmet Ali Talat and Serdar Denktash, the prime minister and foreign minister of the self-declared Turkish-Cypriot state, which is recognized only by Ankara.

The EU has drawn up a series of measures to ease the economic isolation of the breakaway state as a reward for the strong support that Turkish Cypriots gave to a failed UN plan to end Cyprus’s division.

But a final decision on the measures, which include 259 million euros in economic aid, has been postponed until September, following objections by the internationally recognized Greek-Cypriot side.

A reunification plan for Cyprus, voted on by both sides of the island in April, was scuppered by a strong “no” vote in the Greek-Cypriot sector. The failure ensured that the Greek Cypriots alone joined the EU on May 1.

In a separate move, Talat asked UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to put pressure on the EU to honor its pledges, warning that otherwise the Turkish Cypriots might soon lose their desire for reunification.

“I do hope that you shall consider encouraging the EU to take positive and concrete steps toward our people,” Talat said in an August 13 letter to Annan that was made available to AFP yesterday.

“The obstructionist behavior of the Greek-Cypriot side, coupled with indecision and slowness being displayed by the European Union, is extremely frustrating.

“If the EU is only going to act in line with the whims and wishes of the Greek-Cypriot side, then it is obvious that very little can be done... Disappointment and gloom shall inevitably lead to hardening of attitudes amongst our people,” he wrote.