'Cyprus problem' threatens Turkey's EU aim

Judy Dempsey
Financial Times, November 4 2003

Turkey's hopes of starting formal accession talks with the European Union may face a "serious obstacle" if no settlement is reached over the divided island of Cyprus by next year.

The blunt warning, the first to be issued by the European Commission, is contained in Wednesday's annual "regular report" on Turkey as well as reports on 12 other candidate states.

Cyprus, along with nine other countries, will join the EU on May 1, 2004.

The Commission says that Turkey, which has embarked on ambitious reforms in the past year, has "a decisive interest in providing determined support for efforts towards a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem". It says conditions are "favourable" for the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities to reach agreement by May. "The absence of a settlement could become a serious obstacle to Turkey's aspirations."

United Nations brokered-talks were broken off this year after Rauf Denktash, Turkish-Cypriot leader, rejected a plan to create a loose confederation that would end Turkey's 29-year-old occupation of a third of the island.

Despite that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of the governing Justice and Development party, and EU diplomats are awaiting the outcome of next month's elections in the northern part of Cyprus where pro-EU parties are bidding to unseat Mr Denktash from power.

Günter Verheugen, EU enlargement commissioner, has always insisted the north could be quickly prepared for accession once the political decision to reach a settlement was made.

Diplomats said a deal would boost Turkey's chances of being accepted as a candidate member at the December 2004 EU summit. At last year's Copenhagen summit, EU leaders said any decision depended on what reforms Turkey implemented until October of next year when the Commission would make its recommendations on Turkey's status.

The report shows how far Turkey has gone in introducing reforms. The fight against torture and ill treatment "has been strengthened", the role of the army in political life has been reduced and the legal system has moved closer to European standards.

However, it says while "the scale of torture has declined, there are still reports about specific cases which continues to cause concern". There is also insufficient respect for the rights of the defence in court cases and Turkey has not carried out retrials or compensations recommended by the European Court of Human Rights.

On the economic front, reforms are only slowly moving forward.

So far, says the Commission, "Turkey does not yet fully meet the EU's Copenhagen criteria for guaranteeing political, civil, economic and cultural rights" - the preconditions for becoming a candidate member.

* This article is included in MEDEA's Special File Num. 2:
Cyprus: towards a compromise?