Friday, March 25, 2005

FT.com / World / Europe - Cyprus in frame as Ankara weighs customs move

"Cyprus in frame as Ankara weighs customs move
By Vincent Boland in Ankara
Published: March 26 2005 02:00 | Last updated: March 26 2005 02:00

Turkey signalled yesterday that it was ready to extend its customs agreement with the European Union to include the 10 states that joined the EU last year, a move that many Turks have argued would extend de facto recognition to the Greek Cypriot government in Cyprus.

The Anatolian news agency reported that officials in Ankara had agreed the text of a protocol with the EU to extend the agreement. It came after talks in Brussels this week between Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, and Costas Karamanlis, his Greek counterpart."

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