EU agrees to Turkey talks

The European Union overcame a stand-off with Cyprus yesterday to enable Turkey to take its first step in detailed accession talks with the 25-nation bloc but the wrangle was a bad omen for later this year.

Under a deal clinched by foreign ministers after hours of haggling, Turkey was to wrap up talks on the first and least contentious of 35 areas of EU policy - science and research.

But the EU served notice there would be serious consequences unless Ankara meets its obligations to recognise all 10 new members, including Cyprus, and opens its ports and airports to Cypriot ships and planes this year, Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik told a news conference after chairing the talks.

The dispute put down a marker that the Cyprus issue will dog Ankara's accession marathon every step of the way, since each of the 70 EU decisions to open or close policy "chapters" requires unanimity, giving Nicosia a veto.

"Failure to implement its obligations in full will affect the overall progress in the negotiations," the EU said in a preamble to the agreement on science and research.

"This is going to be a very long, very difficult road cluttered with obstacles," French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told reporters.

Turkish stocks, sensitive to each twist in the EU accession process, fell to their lowest level since last November yesterday and the lira also eased despite the deal in Luxembourg.

The Turkish currency has lost around 15 per cent of its value against the dollar in a month due to high inflation and domestic political concerns.

With Cyprus insisting on keeping a sword of Damocles hovering over Turkey's head, ministers warned that the EU "will, if necessary, return to this chapter at an appropriate moment".

Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyanni said the EU was giving Turkey a few more months to fulfil its obligations regarding Cyprus, adding that it had to do so in 2006.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, who set off for Luxembourg hours late, played down another setback for Ankara.

Anticipating EU criticism of the slow pace of Turkey's political and human rights reforms, he said: "There is no turning back from the reform process and there is no slowdown... The process has its difficulties but the important thing is to continue decisively and tirelessly towards our goal."

Outgoing Cypriot Foreign Minister George Iacovou on his last day in office, accused the Turks of a breach of faith.

"Turkey has for one year not taken any steps whatsoever to ratify the adaptation of the protocol to the Ankara agreement," he told reporters.

There were no grounds to reward the Turks since Ankara had vetoed Cypriot membership of international organisations five times since it began its EU talks, Mr Iacovou said.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan had sought to avoid a repeat of last October's humiliating wait before Turkey formally began entry talks, keeping Mr Gul in Ankara until the outcome was assured. Signalling Ankara's growing impatience with what it sees as EU bad faith, Mr Erdogan said Turkey's attitude would change if the EU began attaching additional political conditions.

"Our attitude will change accordingly if politics becomes involved in this process," he said.

Turkey, which still has 35,000 troops in Turkish Cypriot northern Cyprus after invading in 1974 in response to a Greek Cypriot coup fomented by the then ruling military junta in Athens, does not recognise the Nicosia government.

It argues that recognition is linked to a UN-sponsored peace plan to reunite the divided island, which Turkish Cypriots accepted but Greek Cypriots rejected in 2004.

The other 24 EU countries had been bracing for a row with Turkey late this year over its failure to open its ports and airports to traffic from Cyprus but were taken aback when Nicosia decided to raise the stakes now.

Diplomats said Cyprus had achieved its goal of firing a warning shot and locking in an EU commitment to get tough with Turkey if it does not budge later this year.

"This was just a warm-up for the autumn. This was thunder, that will be a real storm," one said.