Cyprus President warns Turkey heading for EU crisis

Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos said yesterday Turkey was heading for a crisis with the European Union this year unless it opened its ports and airports to Cypriot traffic as Brussels demands.

The decades-old division of the Mediterranean island has been a major stumbling block to Turkey's efforts to join the EU. Cyprus, which joined the EU in 2004, has threatened to veto Ankara's accession if Turkey does not open its ports.

"If Turkey does not comply, there will be a crisis. But it will be a crisis of its own making, not of Europe's making," Mr Papadopoulos told Reuters in an interview.

The EU requires Turkey to extend a customs union with the bloc to cover 10 new countries that joined the 25-nation EU in 2004, including Cyprus.

But Ankara has so far refused to extend the customs deal to Cyprus, seeking to ease an economic blockade of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the north of the island in exchange.

The EU will issue a key progress report in October and Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn warned Ankara last week it may face a "train crash" if it did not comply.

The Cypriot President said that although all EU members wanted Turkey to continue on its EU path, they were not prepared to make exceptions for the large Muslim state.

"I don't think there is a country that does not want Turkey to continue negotiations," he said. "(I want to see Turkey) in the EU, provided that it will behave like a European state and comply fully with the obligations that every state has."

Divided since a 1974 Turkish invasion, in response to a coup in Nicosia engineered by the military junta then ruling Greece, Cyprus has defied repeated reunification efforts.

The latest plan by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was approved by Turkish Cypriots eager for international recognition but rejected by wealthier Greek Cypriots in a 2004 referendum.

A lawyer and long-time politician, Mr Papadopoulos, 72, was slammed by the international community for campaigning against the Annan plan after having secured EU membership. He said he was willing to go back to the negotiating table as soon as possible provided there were some key changes to the approach that would secure a deal this time around.

"A new round of talks must be in compliance with certain circumstances," Mr Papadopoulos said. "As soon as the Turkish side accepts, we can start next week."

Any new plan must be better prepared and should have the political agreement of both sides before going to a referendum, he said. It should not be under tight deadlines or under the UN Secretary General's arbitration.

Mr Papadopoulos said the failed plan, which envisioned a federation of two equal states with some land returned to the Greek Cypriots, was unfair to his people.

Although he backed the creation of joint technical committees to deal with issues ranging from health to illegal immigration, Mr Papadopoulos said it was conditional on moving towards discussing issues of substance.

"The aim is for talks to bridge the gap and start preparing substantive talks for a comprehensive solution," he said.

Mr Papadopoulos dismissed some international observers who accuse him of not really wanting a solution.