Turks, French clash over Cyprus as EU talks loom
ANKARA – Turkey and France clashed yesterday over whether Ankara should recognize Cyprus, a European Union member, before it begins its own EU entry talks on October 3. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey could not accept any new conditions for opening the talks and said he had been upset by comments from France that Ankara must first accept the internationally recognized Greek-Cypriot government. «It is out of the question for us to discuss or consider any new conditions with regard to October 3,» Erdogan told reporters in televised comments. «We are saddened by the statements of the French prime minister and of President (Jacques) Chirac,» he added. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said on Tuesday it was «inconceivable» that Turkey start talks with the EU without recognizing one of its 25 member states, though he did not say Paris would deploy its veto. Chirac has not publicly commented on Turkey’s EU talks this week, but the French daily Le Figaro, quoting unnamed ministers, reported that the president had told a cabinet meeting he agreed with his prime minister. Chirac’s office declined to comment on the report. Chirac has traditionally backed Turkey’s EU bid but now faces growing opposition among French voters to admitting the large, relatively poor, mainly Muslim country into the wealthy bloc. Pressure Maintaining pressure on Ankara, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy repeated Villepin’s criticism yesterday. «Not wanting to recognize one country in the Union while wanting to join, that’s not acceptable,» Douste-Blazy told Le Monde newspaper in an interview. «We would like there to be an extensive discussion on this question within the EU.» Ankara recognizes only a breakaway Turkish-Cypriot enclave in the north of Cyprus. France can block the start of talks – as can Cyprus – as the 25 EU states must approve a negotiating mandate unanimously before they can begin. Villepin said France would decide its position after talks among EU foreign ministers in September. Turkey cleared the last formal hurdle to the start of its entry talks last Friday by signing a protocol extending its customs union to new EU members, including Cyprus. But Ankara also issued a declaration making clear the signing did not mean a change in its stance over the island, whose Greek-Cypriot government is viewed in Brussels as the sole legitimate authority. Turkey says recognition can come only after a comprehensive peace settlement on the Mediterranean island. Ankara believes it has done all it can reasonably be expected to do on Cyprus by backing a UN-brokered peace deal last year which Turkish Cypriots also endorsed in a referendum. The plan was scuppered by the Greek Cypriots. Despite the latest French comments, Erdogan said he was confident Turkey would begin entry talks on schedule. «We will start the negotiations on October 3. We think only of the negotiations,» Erdogan said. The talks are expected to last many years and Turkey is not seen as joining the EU before 2015 at the earliest.
