"Gul's Cyprus dilemma with the EU Troika
Huseyin Bagci
bagci@metu.edu.tr
After some silence on Turkish-European Union relations, now new storm clouds are gathering over Turkish foreign policy. The meeting of Turkey's foreign minister with the EU Troika in Vienna has started the old debate again: Is Turkey going to sell Cyprus for the sake of the EU membership? EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn has put the same demand forward again, being fully aware that the Turkish government cannot do this, i.e. opening Turkish ports to all members of the EU including the Southern Republic of Cyprus, using the official wording of the Turkish government. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul stated after the Troika meeting that this has nothing to do with the negotiations and Turkey is continuing with the reform process as expected. Indeed, opening the ports to the Greek Cypriots would mean political suicide for the Turkish government as long as the EU doesn't lift its economic embargo from Northern Cyprus and give the promised financial aid. Now Austrian Foreign Minister Plassnik made an interesting correlation between opening the ports and lifting the economic embargo but then denied it immediately, probably after the strong reactions of Greek Cyprus."
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