TURKEY can suffer the consequences of not complying with its obligations towards the EU and Cyprus if there is a unanimous decision by the European Council or if one or more member states prevent the country’s negotiating process for EU accession, Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou said yesterday.
Speaking after he briefed the House European Affairs Committee on how the government plans to act during Turkey’s EU negotiations, Kyprianou said there would be a full progress report on the situation in autumn. The Cyprus Republic, he added, will make sure that Turkey lives up to its obligations.
The Committee had convened to discuss the need to apply effective pressure on Turkey so that it is made to realise its European commitments and especially the Additional Protocol in the Association Agreement between the EU and Turkey.
Kyprianou said: “The Cyprus Republic has made it clear that if feels Turkey’s progress report should be carried out in the autumn, as the EU had committed to, and if Turkey doesn’t comply until then, Turkey will inevitably suffer consequences”.
These consequences, he added, will have to be weighed up very carefully, taking into consideration current efforts to find a solution to the Cyprus problem.
“There can essentially be consequences in two ways: one would be a unanimous decision by the Council, meaning the member states, which will have to decide what these consequences will be, and the other would be for any member state or a number of member states to prevent the opening of one or more negotiating chapters,” the Minister said, adding that there were other scenarios, which however weren’t as feasible.
Turkey, said Kyprianou, has obligations towards the EU and therefore the European Council has to decide what the consequences will be if they are violated; but he said it was important to remind everyone that Cyprus has the right to exercise a veto to Turkey’s accession.
Committee Chairman Nicos Cleanthous of DIKO was of the view that Cyprus along with Greece could convince the rest of Europe that Turkey should allow a solution to the Cyprus problem.
“If we don’t demand here and now that Turkey is pressurised, there is no chance for the direct talks [between the two community leaders]; that’s the hard truth,” said Cleanthous.
Takis Hadjigeorgiou of ruling party AKEL said the government has its own plans and decisions on how to deal with the matter, but added that it wouldn’t be beneficial to Cyprus if these were revealed; even to parliament.
But he did stress that the government would use every weapon it has at its disposal during the six-month evaluation of Turkey’s prospective accession.
