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"No deal yet on Turkey" (EU wreck in the works) and "Athens gets EU deal it wanted" (2 for 1 post)
www.ekathimerini.com ^ | 9-21-2005 | www.ekathimerini.com

Posted on 09/25/2005 12:47:09 PM PDT by longtermmemmory

Wednesday September 21, 2005 - Archive

S/E EUROPE
No deal yet on Turkey
Cyprus harbors last-minute misgivings over EU counter-declaration to Ankara


AFP

Turkish-Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat speaks yesterday at his monthly press briefing, saying that the EU stance would only obstruct a solution in Cyprus and cement the division.

By Marcin Grajewski - Reuters

BRUSSELS - European Union president Britain struggled yesterday to remove final obstacles before membership negotiations with Turkey can start in October.

New EU member Cyprus unexpectedly refused to rubber-stamp the bloc’s declaration responding to Turkey’s refusal to recognize the Mediterranean island, which was agreed late on Monday by the bloc’s envoys to Brussels.

But some diplomats said the snag was likely to be only temporary and could be removed today, when EU ambassadors meet again. If it is not, the EU may call an emergency meeting of its foreign ministers on September 26 to thrash out a deal.

Expectations of success were reinforced when Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos said in Nicosia that all 25 EU member states agreed that Turkey should start entry talks on October 3.

“There isn’t a country within the EU which says accession negotiations should not start on October 3,” he said.

The EU declaration from Monday made it clear that Turkey had to recognize Cyprus before the Muslim country joined the bloc, which diplomats say will happen in 10 years at the earliest.

“This is not over yet, I’m afraid,” said Jack Straw, foreign secretary of Britain, which hold the EU’s rotating presidency. He was speaking to reporters at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Additionally, member states continued to haggle over final details of the “negotiating framework,” or technical ground rules for talks, which are to be presented to Turkey when talks start on October 3, along with the declaration.

Diplomats said Cyprus denied its final support for the declaration not because it wanted to toughen its text but because it had decided to await final approval of the negotiating framework for Turkey.

The agreed compromise read: “Recognition of all member states is a necessary component of the accession process.”

France and Austria held up agreement on the negotiating road-map with demands for tougher conditions.

Austria reiterated its demand for the negotiating framework to envisage “privileged partnership” between the EU and Turkey as a possible outcome of accession talks, rather than only full membership as Ankara demands.

France asked for safeguards against Turkey’s membership if the EU deems itself not to be fully ready for accession of the fast-growing, but economically impoverished country.

“There are now discussions taking place on other aspects of the negotiating framework, principally on this issue about absorption capacity and privileged partnership,” said Straw.

Turkey met its last obligation before accession talks with the EU could start when, in July, it extended its customs union deal with the bloc to all new member states, including Cyprus.

But Ankara has not opened its ports to Cypriot vessels, despite the accord, and issued a declaration refusing to recognize Cyprus.


Related Articles
Athens gets EU deal it wanted_(...NEWS...)





++++++++++AND++++++++++++++++++

NEWS
Athens gets EU deal it wanted

Athens expressed its delight yesterday with the final version of the counter-declaration that sets out criteria for Turkey's EU membership process but a last-gasp objection from Nicosia prevented the document being adopted.

The statement, which was agreed on in principle by the 25 member states, is expected to be formally approved today. After marathon negotiations, Greece is satisfied that its goals have been achieved.

The text drafted by the British presidency of the EU singled out Turkey's refusal to recognize Cyprus as being a unilateral decision and without legal basis. It calls on Turkey to fully enforce the EU customs deal it has signed up to with all the member states, and informs Ankara that its compliance will be monitored. If Turkey does not allow planes or ships from Cyprus, or any other member, into its airports and harbors then its membership negotiations will be affected.

«These developments are of profound importance and were inconceivable a few years ago. They put the Cypriot problem in a more beneficial framework,» said Foreign Ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos.



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No deal yet on Turkey_(...S/E EUROPE...)

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TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: britain; cyprus; eu; european; greece; uk; union
Recognition of the Republic of Cyprus is going to be a very sore point.

I posted both articles in one thread in order to see them together. It seems there are groups which are determined to bring Turkey into the EU at any and all costs.

I think it is in the best interests for the EU to not fall into the abyss. It will just be another mess the USA is going to have to clean up.

1 posted on 09/25/2005 12:47:10 PM PDT by longtermmemmory
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To: Kolokotronis; Destro

ping


2 posted on 09/25/2005 12:47:41 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE!)
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To: longtermmemmory

Turkey will never join the EU, in my opinion, and it's a waste of time to even bother with the negotiations. Any EU nations that hold a referendum, and there will be at least some, will defeat Turkish accession.


3 posted on 09/25/2005 1:04:47 PM PDT by AntiGuv (™)
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To: longtermmemmory

Hopefully, for the sake of the European nations, the EU will never admit Turkey.


4 posted on 09/25/2005 1:07:00 PM PDT by reelfoot
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To: reelfoot

Beyond the obvious fact that the Turks invaded Asia Minor and drove out or killed millions of Christians who had been there many centuries before they were [and have now vanished 99.9%], how can Asia Minor be part of a "European" Union anyway?


5 posted on 09/25/2005 1:11:34 PM PDT by wildandcrazyrussian
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To: longtermmemmory

PS. My personal suspicion has always been that the reason why the EU and Turkey are even carrying on negotiations is as a cover for: (a) political & economic reforms in Turkey; and (b) finally resolving the Cyprus question. In the end, Turkey will accept privileged partnership status and that'll be it. However, everyone will be better off for going through the process, so I guess it's not truly a waste of time as I said before.

I just wanted to emphasize that I can't imagine Turkey ever joining the EU. There are at least a couple EU nations that would require a referendum to approve Turkey's membership, and there is absolutely no chance in my view that the electorate of any EU nation would vote yes. If the people vote on it, all 25 would vote no.


6 posted on 09/25/2005 1:13:23 PM PDT by AntiGuv (™)
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To: longtermmemmory
The Turkish army and air arm is comprised of super good guys; they're excellent flyers and good troops. However, having spent a year trying to keep them from the throats of their Greek neighbors and onserving their social conduct, I think they have a long way to go before the EU will, or should, wrpa them in the fold. To become a member of the EU a nation-state must pledge to conform to a set of rights and governmental obligations that essentially track our Bill of Rights and the social-welfare guarantees of EU compact.

The EU is basically an agreement to the globalization and connectivity of the western nations, Japan and the U.S. Turkey is so highly fractionalized and divided by religious interets that their EU acceotance is highly problematic.

Read: 'The United States of Europe,' an excellent book that describes the EU.

7 posted on 09/25/2005 1:15:45 PM PDT by middie
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To: AntiGuv

I think you have something there, Imagine if they can keep pushing the EU membership all the way around the mediterainian.

I think it may end up being a "perpetual" negotiations where Turkey ends up like the Puerto Rico of the EU.


8 posted on 09/25/2005 2:28:00 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE!)
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To: wildandcrazyrussian

Where exactly are the political and geograpical lines of demarcation between Europe and Asia, and are they one and the same or are they different?


9 posted on 09/25/2005 6:16:10 PM PDT by Surtur (Free Trade is NOT Fair Trade unless both economies are equivalent.)
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To: Surtur

The border between Europe and Asia consists of the three segments: 1) the waterway between the Mediterranean and Black Seas, 2) the boundary on the south side of the countries of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Caucasus, and 3) the Ural Mountains in Russia, then following the northern boundary of Kazakhstan to the Black Sea. Turkey has a little area inside Europe, but 97+% is in Asia. There is no way they are "European" in any meaningful sense, especially since they drove out the last 500,000 Christians in 1955.


10 posted on 09/25/2005 6:49:41 PM PDT by wildandcrazyrussian
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To: wildandcrazyrussian

Thanks, that information will be very useful in helping to ascertain the political structures and divisions in those regions.


11 posted on 09/25/2005 7:49:34 PM PDT by Surtur (Free Trade is NOT Fair Trade unless both economies are equivalent.)
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