[autom.vertaling] Ankara en Athene boeken weinig vooruitgang over Cyprus (en)
The visit of the leader of Turkey's newly elected Justic and Development party, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to Athens yesterday had all the appearances of success but produced little progress in resolving the conflict over the divided island of Cyprus.
According to Le Figaro, although Greek Prime Minister, Costas Simitis, said the meeting had been "extremely friendly", the positions of the two countries on the issue did not shift very much at all.
Mr Simitis reaffirmed that there is a "very good basis of understanding" between the two countries which have grown considerably closer over the past three years. Greece has given its agreement in principle to fix a date for negotiations to begin between the EU and Turkey.
No agreement before summit
However, this is where the problems begin. According to Mr Simitis, if the EU wants a solution to be found for the partitioning of the island through the negotiations of the two communities then it should make Cyprus' inclusion in the first wave of EU enlargement dependent on this. Yesterday the European Commission rejected Mr Erdogan's proposal to delay the entry of Cyprus to coincide with Turkey's membership of the EU in several years time.
Mr Erdogan underlined the willingness of Ankara to "cooperate" with Athens for a political solution but he said that agreement cannot be found between now and the Copenhagen summit in July, contrary to the view expressed by UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan.
Greek diplomacy chief, Georges Papandreou, was quick to point out that this does not cast a shadow between Ankara and Athens. However, Belgian daily, Le Soir, describes the Turkey's statement as a "turnaround" following ten days of negotiations on the compromise solution proposed by the United Nations.
Ongoing tour
Mr Erdogan's visit to Athens was part of a current tour of EU capitals where he hopes to rally support for setting a date for Turkish membership of the Union. Today he will arrive in Brussels.
According to the Financial Times, the Danish Presidency of the EU has already begun sounding out the opinions of the member states towards Turkish accession. Greece, the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy and Belgium are all in favour of giving Turkey a date to begin talks, as is the Bush administration.
Germany has recently shown a great deal of support for Turkey. Chancellor Gerhard Schröder said this week that an "extra signal" would be given to Turkey at the December summit, without specifying exactly what this meant.
"Germany and Italy are interested in binding Turkey closer to the West and to Europe," he told a joint news conference with Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi.
Sceptics
However, France is leading the sceptics towards Turkish membership. Diplomats say that Austria is also "deeply opposed" for historical reasons - the Ottomans have besieged Vienna twice - and because it has a conservative view about such a large Muslim country joining the EU.
The Netherlands remains divided while Sweden and Ireland are taking a more ideological stance. They believe that Turkey should be free of military influence and should fully respect human rights before entry. Finland and Luxembourg are lukewarm.
Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh said in Brussels on Tuesday that she would not exclude a date for negotiations of Turkish EU membership to be fixed at the Copenhagen Summit. Also she admitted personally to have changed her opinons on Turkey. The EU external relations Commissioner Chris Patten also spoke out yesterday in favor of Turkish EU membership.
Pro-European outlook
The BBC reports that newly elected Turkish Prime Minister, Abdullah Gül, vowed that Turkey will remain strongly committed to its pro-American and pro-European outlook in his first policy speech since officially taking office on Monday.
"During my tenure, Turkey will maintain its focus on both its strategic partnership with the US and its candidacy for EU membership," he said in Istanbul.
Mr Gül also made it clear that Turkey expects a date for negotiations to emerge from the Copenhagen summit.