"Mehmet Ali Birand: Turkey will lift embargo on Cyprus
Wednesday, March 2, 2005
Turkey has agreed to expand the customs union agreement to southern Cyprus; however, this decision is not an end. Ankara also needs to remove the embargoes in place against Greek Cypriot airports and seaports.
Mehmet Ali Birand
As Turkey drags its feet in implementing the broadening of the customs union agreement to southern Cyprus, the matter is constantly becoming more political and harder to resolve.
A document was signed on Dec. 17 in Brussels, and Turkey officially promised to treat the Republic of Cyprus as a European Union member and agreed to expand the customs union agreement to cover Cyprus.
The widely held impression in the Turkish media is that the government will pass this decision through Parliament and the matter will be resolved.
Actually, that's not the case. "
More:Turkish Daily News - Mehmet Ali Birand: Turkey will lift embargo on Cyprus
