Cyprus warns EU members it will block Turkey

Nov 26, 2009, 10:04 GMT

Athens/Nicosia - Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias on Thursday threatened to block Turkey's negotiations to join the European Union in an upcoming summit unless Ankara opens its ports and airports to traffic from Cyprus.

The Greek Cypriot president sent a letter its European Union partners saying it will take action to block further progress in Turkey's negotiations to join the group in the upcoming December 10 summit.

Turkey has currently opened negotiations in 11 of 35 EU policy areas and completed one chapter.

'We want to stress that if Turkey does not fulfill its obligations towards the EU and Cyprus by December's evaluation then Nicosia will not allow Ankara's path to continue unchallenged,' Greek Cypriot Government Spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou said Thursday.

Cyprus wants sanctions to be imposed on Turkey if it does not open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot traffic as outlined in the Ankara protocol signed by Turkey. It also wants Ankara to work constructively toward the reunification of Cyprus.

Greek and Turkish Cypriots launched renewed peace talks last September, but the pace has been slow since the series of meetings held at an abandoned airport inside the UN-controlled buffer zone.

Cyprus has been divided since a Turkish invasion in 1974, sparked by a brief Greek-inspired coup.

Greek Cypriots have lived in the south of Cyprus and Turkish Cypriots in the north, split by a UN-supervised buffer zone which runs through the heart of the island's capital.

Observers insist a window of opportunity for a bi-communal, bizonal settlement will close by April 2010, the date of the next Turkish Cypriot elections, when the pro-settlement leader risks losing his office to a more hardline candidate.

In 2004, Greek Cypriots rejected a UN settlement blueprint which would have turned Cyprus into a loose federation a week before the island joined the European Union as a divided state.

Both ethnic communities agree, on paper, to reunite the island's two halves in the latest round of UN-led peace talks, but disagree on how this would work. Other disputes include the complex issue of property lost during the invasion.

EU officials have said that progress in the Cyprus reunification talks will be essential to move Turkey's drawn-out EU accession process forward. Ankara's EU membership talks, which began in October 2005, have been partially frozen because of the situation on the island.

Turkey does not recognize the Greek Cypriot government and supports the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in northern Cyprus where it has stationed more than 40,000 troops. Christofias has listed the withdrawal of Turkish troops from the island as a key goal.