THE European Council sent a clear message to Turkey yesterday that it must recognise the Cyprus Republic and include it in the Customs Union agreement it has already signed with all other 24 member nations of the EU.
The message came in the form of a report on the conclusions of the latest meeting of the European Council in Brussels.
Turkey had refused to sign a Customs Union agreement with Cyprus after disagreements about non-recognition of Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus.
Turkey will now come under extreme pressure to recognise the Republic of Cyprus and include it in its customs agreements.
The pragmatically-worded conclusions published yesterday in Brussels said: “The European Council invites Turkey to conclude negotiations with the Commission on behalf of the Community and its 25 Member states on the adaptation of the Ankara Agreement to take account of the accession of the new Member States.”
The conclusions also included praise from the European Council for the “Turkish government’s positive contribution to the efforts of the UN Secretary-general to achieve a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem” following its government’s backing of the UN’s Annan plan for Cyprus in last months referendum on the island.
The European Council also welcomed “the significant progress made to date by Turkey in the reform process, including the important and wide-ranging constitutional amendments adopted in May.”
The Council “welcomes the continued and sustained efforts of the Turkish government to meet the Copenhagen criteria. In this context, the European Council emphasises the importance of concluding the remaining legislative work and of accelerating efforts to ensure decisive progress in the full and timely implementation of reforms at all levels of administration and throughout the country,” the report added.
The report expresses the EU’s belief that Turkey still has plenty to do before accession can take place, but pledges to help the 70-million strong nation “continue… in its preparations and to work towards full implementation of the pre-accession strategy”.
Most important, the reports says, are Turkey’s ongoing efforts to create a truly independent judiciary, to implement the “fundamental freedoms of association, expression and religion”, greater cultural rights, “the further alignment of civil-military relations with European practice” and to improve the situation in the southeast of the country, where conflict with Kurdish separatists has left thousands dead.
The report expressed EU commitment to starting accession negotiations with Turkey next year if the European Council decides in December 2004 that Turkey has succeeded in fulfilling the Copenhagen criteria. If Turkey can succeed in doing this, the report says, negotiations will begin “without delay”.
In conclusion, the report the European Council said it “encourages the Turkish government to remain firmly committed to macroeconomic and financial stabilisation, including full implementation of the structural reform agenda.”
Commenting on the report, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said it fell short of what his government had expected.
“The report does not fully take into account reforms that have been implemented in Turkey. Either they are unaware of our reform programme or they are not paying full attention to what we are doing,” he said, adding that he and his government had advised the Council on the draft report’s shortcomings the previous day.
“Many of those here [in Brussels] are unaware of what we have done in the southeast and east of the country. I don’t think they are fully aware of the work we have done concerning broadcasts, courses and the establishment of associations for speakers of minority languages,” Erdogan added.
Erdogan said he believed his country would be ready to begin accession processes in March 2005, but expressed fear that some new members of the EU seemed convinced Turkey had not yet reached the point at which accession negotiations could begin.
