BBC: Turkey-EU Talks May Be Suspended in Autumn 2006

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Turkey-EU talks may be suspended in autumn 2006. Unless Turkey opens its ports it will fail a review of its compliance with the customs union and its bilateral relations with other member states, due this autumn. Most EU diplomats and politicians do not want talks with Turkey to collapse in acrimony. They do want to see Turkey open its ports to Greek Cypriot vessels, but they also want moves to resolve the Cyprus problem. But the Cypriots have much more bargaining power vis-a-vis Turkey now they are inside the EU, and the other EU member states much less leverage over them. Some diplomats worry that the Cypriot strategy is to "Europeanise" the Cyprus dispute, moving the dispute away from a UN framework where compromise is inevitable. Meanwhile, diplomats are searching for possible moves on northern Cyprus that could encourage the Turks to open their ports, says BBC.