The Way To The E.U. Goes Through The Aegean

Meanwhile, the matter of the Turkish-Greek issues will be on Turkey’s agenda in the middle term. It’s interesting to note the parallelism between the decision taken at last week’s Copenhagen summit and 1999’s Helsinki summit, in that the date 2004 was pronounced at both occasions. As the fourth paragraph of the Helsinki document states, ‘The European Council [EC] stresses the principle of peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with the United Nations Charter and urges candidate states to make every effort to resolve any outstanding border disputes and other related issues. Failing this they should within a reasonable time bring the dispute to the International Court of Justice. The EC will review the situation relating to any outstanding disputes, in particular concerning the repercussions on the accession process and in order to promote their settlement through the International Court of Justice, at the latest by the end of 2004.’ Clearly, here we can see a direct relation between Turkey’s accession process and bringing Turkish-Greek problems to the International Court. In other words, even if Turkey meets the political criteria in 2004, the EU can easily use a lack of progress on the Aegean issues to justify delaying us again. This possibility will spur Turkey to find a solution to the Aegean problems within two years. Thus, we should be prepared to discuss all the conflicting issues of the Aegean Sea, including the matters of the continental shelf, territorial waters and airspace.

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION