THE EU said yesterday agreed to issue a counter declaration to Ankara’s refusal to recognise Cyprus but Nicosia blasted the draft proposed by Britain, threatening to block Turkey’s accession talks unless it was changed.
Government spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said the first-draft proposal by Britain, the current EU president was “unacceptable and unbalanced”.
“If it is not satisfactory then the negotiating framework of the EU with Turkey will not be discussed,” Chrysostomides said. “If there is no debate and agreement on the negotiating framework, the negotiations will not start.”
Turkey is due to open entry talks on October 3 having fulfilled its obligation to sign the customs union protocol with the ten new member states including Cyprus. However Ankara qualified its position by issuing a separate declaration saying it did not recognise the Republic of Cyprus.
In Brussels yesterday EU legal advisers told the envoys the Turkish position had no legal impact on its customs union with the EU, but a spokesman there told Reuters: “Of course there are political implications.”
Britain was asked to take back the declaration and a spokesman said EU foreign ministers would discuss the rejoinder again when they meet in Newport, Wales, today and it could be issued very soon.
“Most member states agreed with the presidency that there was a need for a counter-declaration,” a spokesman for EU president Britain said yesterday after ambassadors of the 25-nation bloc discussed Turkey’s July 29 unilateral statement.
The British spokesman said several countries wanted the counter-declaration to be issued as soon as possible and before the EU agrees on a negotiating mandate – the last procedural hurdle to opening the talks.
But Chrysostomides accused Britain of lacking impartiality. “Britain did not show the necessary impartiality and objectivity. On the contrary an effort was made to import elements of the British policy in the declaration,” he said.
The counter-declaration is expected to insist that Turkey’s unilateral statement on Cyprus must not impede full implementation of the customs union, without discriminating against any EU member state. It may also call for monitoring and a review next year of Turkey’s application of the accord.
The declaration would also underline the importance the EU attached to normalisation of relations between Turkey and all member states and stress the EU only recognised one legitimate government of Cyprus – the Greek Cypriot administration.
Foreign Minister George Iacovou said the paper presented by Britain was “inadequate” and he hoped that a new document would be better and more balanced, while Chrysostomides said the new counter statement must be clearer, “and respond to the dignity and principles upon which the EU is based”.
“The Cyprus government expects the Presidency to change the document’s internal balance and will include what was said by the permanent representatives of Cyprus, France and other representatives who criticized the British counterstatement”, Iacovou said.
France yesterday joined Cyprus in Brussels in pushing for further clarification, with the Cypriot envoy calling for a timetable for Turkey to recognise the Nicosia government, diplomats said.
Apart from France, diplomats said Greece, Spain, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Luxembourg supported Cyprus to varying degrees. On the other hand, Sweden had warned against the danger of an escalating series of counter-declarations.
Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman George Koumoutsakos told Reuters the draft rejoinder must be hardened up to make clear that implementation of the customs union protocol was a step on the path towards full normalisation of relations
Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn insisted that Turkey had met EU leaders’ terms for opening negotiations by bringing into force key reforms and signing a protocol extending its EU customs union to all 25 member states.
“My interpretation is that Turkey has fulfilled the two strict conditions which pave the way for the opening of negotiations,” he told the Financial Times.
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