"An error in Cyprus?
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Gündüz Aktan
Since the Greek Cypriot side has rejected the Annan plan in a referendum, it is only natural for us to put forward certain proposals from time to time in order to force them into a difficult position. The important thing is that, as both Gul and Erdogan have stated repeatedly, Turkish harbors and airports will not be opened to Greek Cypriot ships and planes as long as the embargoes causing the isolation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) are not lifted. The validity of these statements depends on non-approval by Turkey of the additional protocol to the European Union customs union under which Turkey would have to open its harbors and airports. Yet, (British Foreign Secretary Jack) Straw has reportedly told Murat Yetkin that a failure to ratify the annex protocol would adversely affect accession talks with the EU (Radikal, Jan.27). In other words, unless we ratify and implement the additional protocol, the Greek Cypriots will exercise their veto and suspend Turkey-EU talks, and the EU will be unable to do anything about it."
More:An error in Cyprus? - Turkish Daily News Jan 28, 2006