BRUSSELS,
December 17 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - European Union
leaders and Turkey agreed Friday, December 17, the terms on which
Ankara will start membership talks with the bloc next October, after
the two sides reached a compromise on Cyprus.
“There
is a global agreement on the Turkey part of the final statement,” an
EU government official was quoted by Reuters as saying, on condition
of anonymity.
The
deal, four decades after Ankara signed an association agreement as a
first step to membership in 1963, was reached after tough negotiations
with the 25-nation bloc, which insisted Turkey must move towards
normalizing relations with Cyprus.
A
deal struck by the EU's current chairman, Dutch Prime Minister Jan
Peter Balkenende, with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan was
endorsed by all 25 leaders, including the president of Cyprus, sources
told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The
leaders broke out in applause at the conclusion of a dramatic two-day
summit that at one point had threatened to unravel.
“It
is certain that we will open accession negotiations on October 3 next
year”, he told reporters.
Turkey
late Thursday, December 16, won the pledge it has been seeking in a
four-decade drive to be embraced into the European fold when the EU
leaders offered to launch accession talks next October.
Once
they conclude, probably in a decade, it would become the bloc's first
majority-Muslim nation, taking the EU's borders deep into the Middle
East to Syria, Iran and Iraq.
Preconditions
 |
|
EU leaders after the breakthrough. (AFP)
|
But
the offer came attached
with a massive proviso -- that Turkey relent on decades
of hostility to the Greek Cypriots' internationally recognized
government, effectively abandoning the Turkish Cypriots' breakaway
state.
The
demand was met with a frosty reception from Turkish diplomats but as
Friday wore on, Erdogan held a series of closed-door meetings with
Balkenende and other key leaders to tease out a compromise.
Diplomats
said Ankara offered a written commitment to sign a protocol to a 1963
association accord with the EU's forerunner, expanding the agreement
to cover the EU's 10 newest member states -- including Cyprus.
That
would mean a landmark breakthrough to one of Europe's most intractable
conflicts, with Turkey giving de facto recognition to the Republic of
Cyprus.
Cyprus
has been divided along ethnic lines since Turkish troops invaded its
northern part in 1974 to stave off a bid to unite the island with
Greece. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is recognized by no
one except Ankara.
The
EU dropped a call for Erdogan to initial the protocol Friday, settling
for a pledge that Turkey would sign before the start of accession
talks.
“The
European Council welcomed Turkey's decision to sign the protocol
regarding the adaptation of the Ankara Agreement, taking account of
the accession of the 10 new member states,” summit conclusions seen
by AFP said.
Turkey
has insisted in the past that recognition depends on a settlement to
reunite the island under a UN peace plan which Turkey and the Turkish
Cypriots accepted but Greek Cypriots rejected in April. Ankara has
35,000 troops on the island.
Insufficient
British
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw suggested earlier that signing the
protocol was not the same as a binding legal acknowledgement of the
Cypriot government under international law.
“It's
not about recognition with a capital R,” he said, restating
Britain's desire to see NATO ally Turkey join the world's richest club
of nations.
Cyprus
earlier in the day considered Turkey's offer of an oral assurance is
insufficient.
Turks
were quick to welcome the deal with the EU, amid hopes it would boost
chances of further economic development.
“This
means the beginning of a major transformation not only of Turkey but
of Europe too. This shows that the ‘enlightenment’ is no longer
particular to Europe, it has expanded to encompass other cultures,”
Dogu Ergil, a political science professor at Ankara University, told
Reuters.
The
landmark negotiations would eventually change the face both of the EU
and of Turkey, a NATO ally which sits on the hinge of southeast Europe
and the Middle East.
A
few days before the crunch EU summit, Erdogan said allowing Ankara
into the euro bloc will help bridge
the yawning gap between the West and Islam.
The
European Commission Wednesday, October 6, gave Turkey a
green light to start talks to join the European Union,
but set a series of tough conditions warning there was no guarantee of
success.
Turkey,
an official candidate since 1999, has been waiting to join the euro
bloc for decades but its efforts have stumbled over its civil rights
record.
The
Turkish parliament adopted
last month a far-reaching overhaul of the country's 78-year-old penal
code, clearing a major obstacle to accession talks.
