Cyprus urges Turkey to meet EU obligations

Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos urged Turkey to meet its European Union (EU) entry obligations as well as its obligations to Cyprus on Saturday, days before the publication of a key report on Ankara's bid to join the EU.

"Efforts by the EU Finnish presidency aim merely at helping Turkey to meet its EU obligations. Our main policy objective is to see to it that Ankara fulfills these commitments, which are also commitments towards Cyprus," the President said at a gathering here.

Papadopoulos also said that all EU members believe that Turkey has to meet its obligations, irrespective of the developments in Cyprus.

The Cypriot President was speaking two days after Finland, which holds the rotating EU presidency, cancelled talks with Turkish and Cypriot officials slated for Sunday and Monday in Helsinki.

The meeting was intended to prevent a breakdown in negotiations on Turkey's possible EU membership, which have bogged down partially over Turkey's refusal to allow ships from Cyprus to dock in its ports.

The European Commission is expected to publish on next Wednesday an annual report on Ankara's pace of reform and progress on meeting the EU entry obligations.

When the Helsinki meeting was cancelled on Thursday, Ankara and Nicosia blamed each other for scuppering the key negotiations.

The Republic of Cyprus has urged Turkey to open its ports and airports to its traffic under a customs union protocol Ankara signed with the EU last year.

But Turkey insists that it will not do so unless the EU's restriction on the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north is lifted, vowing not to budge even if its position led to the suspension of its EU entry talks.

The Republic of Cyprus, which entered the EU on behalf of the whole island in May 2004, is able to block Turkey's entry talks with its veto.

Cyprus has been divided along the ethnic line since 1974 when Turkey militarily intervened and occupied the north of Cyprus following a coup by a group of Greek officers. The breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is recognized only by Turkey.

Source: Xinhua