EUROPEAN UNION president Finland is trying to arrange discreet high-level talks next Sunday to break a deadlock over Cyprus that threatens to derail Turkey’s EU membership negotiations, diplomats said yesterday.
Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja aims to bring together leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities and the foreign ministers of Turkey and Greece in Finland to discuss an initiative on opening trade and ports.
“It’s the first time they have tried to bring the principals together and it’s not yet certain. They will go ahead only if they see a prospect of progress,” one EU diplomat said.
The aim was to create political momentum before the executive European Commission publishes a progress report on Turkey on November 8, which will note that Ankara has not yet met a treaty obligation to open its ports to shipping from Cyprus.
Cyprus has been obstructing Turkey’s accession negotiations to try to force Ankara to yield on the ports issue and wider demands for recognition.
The Finnish Foreign Ministry and the countries involved declined comment on the proposed talks. But Tuomioja told a news conference in Helsinki: “We are still deeply engaged in trying to find a solution to the Cyprus issue and all the parties we have been in direct contact with have appreciated our efforts.”
Asked by Reuters whether the presidency was preparing a meeting of key players next weekend to discuss a way forward, Foreign Minister George Lillikas said: “We have been asked not to speak about this so I cannot comment. I can say that we are continuously in close contact with the Finns.”
Details obtained by Reuters from sources on all sides indicate Finland is proposing a trade-off under which Turkey would open some ports to shipping from Cyprus.
In parallel, the Turkish Cypriots would be allowed to export goods directly to the EU from the port of Famagusta under EU supervision, and Greek Cypriots would be able to rebuild the abandoned resort of Varosha under UN administration.
Both sides have demanded changes to the Finnish plan, which has not yet been officially put on paper, but neither has rejected it out of hand.
The Turkish Cypriots say it must include opening Tymbou (Ercan) airport to international traffic, which the Greek Cypriots categorically reject. The Greek Cypriots want clearer guarantees that Varosha refugees will get their homes back, the sources say.
European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, expected to attend next weekend’s talks if they take place, has urged Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots to accept the Finnish initiative as the best way to avoid a potential “train crash” in Turkey’s EU bid.
In a move to improve the prospects of the Finnish plan, the Commission last week released a first sum of 39 million euros in aid to northern Cypriots under a development plan agreed in 2004 when the Turkish Cypriots voted for a UN peace plan rejected in a referendum by the Greek Cypriots.
Diplomats said the director-general of the Finnish Foreign Ministry for European affairs, Kare Halonen, was handling detailed talks on the Cyprus initiative. He was in Ankara yesterday and was due in Nicosia today, they said.
The diplomats said the Finnish initiative was still a long shot but neither side wanted to be blamed for rejecting it. If a deal did emerge, it would be on the eve of a EU summit in mid-December which will review what to do about Turkey’s accession talks. (R)
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