EU: Door to Cyprus Solution Will Remain Open

Verheugen said, "The EU membership of Cyprus will not present an obstacle to a solution of the political problem," and added that the doors to the solution would remain open after membership accession as well. Inserted into the revised version of the Partnership Accession Document presented to Turkey yesterday was an article under the heading of political expectations for 2003-2004 that read: "To determinedly support the efforts for a complete solution of the Cyprus problem within the limit of the initiatives of the U.N. Secretary-General that are still on the table."

EU officials held a press conference participated in by Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul at the conclusion of the 42nd Turkey-EU Partnership Council meeting. The officials stated that they were unhappy because progress had not been made on the Cyprus problem and underlined that a solution was still possible within the framework of the EU. While Giannitsis asked Turkey to urge the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) to continue with negotiations, Verheugen said, "The EU membership of Cyprus will not present an obstacle for resolving the political problem." These words have been interpreted as meaning that the doors to a solution would remain open after membership as well.

An EU official said: "Hopefully, the membership of the Greek Cypriots will not prevent the start of negotiations with Turkey. We frankly compromised that the incoming members would not hinder the membership of the group remaining behind which includes Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey."

Giannitsis, indicating that the relations between Turkey and Greece were showing very positive progress, put the problems of the Aegean Sea on the agenda. He said that the Aegean problems must be solved by the end of 2004 in accordance with decisions taken at the EU Helsinki Summit.

Selcuk Gultasli / Brussels / BELGIUM