Cyprus Ratifies EU Accession Treaty
The treaty envisions the accession of the whole of Cyprus, but EU laws and benefits will not apply to the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the occupied north until the island is reunified.
Turkish Cypriots staged mass demonstrations earlier this year demanding the resignation of Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash for rejecting a United Nations reunification plan that would enable a unified Cyprus to join the EU next May.
Turkish Cypriot opposition parties saw the demonstrations as a sign they may defeat the hard-liner Denktash in December’s presidential election.
But they fear their victory may be blocked by the increasing influx to the north of thousands of impoverished settlers from mainland Turkey who are granted voting rights on arrival.
French Minister for European Affairs Noelle Lenoir, who is on a two-day visit to Cyprus, said the issue would be discussed by the EU.
Cyprus has been split into a Greek Cypriot controlled south and the occupied north since Turkey invaded in 1974 in the wake of an abortive coup by supporters of union with Greece.
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