Turkije wil EU-garanties ter bescherming onroerend goed in Noord-Cyprus (en)

Turkey is demanding that any settlement agreement on Cyprus contain exceptions to EU rules, with the possibility of retaining some divisions between the two communities.

Turkey's foreign minister Abdullah Gül wants the EU to grant exceptions to its laws that grant freedom of movement and property ownership throughout the EU, due to fears by the Turkish Cypriot side of a huge influx to the north by the Greek Cypriots, the Associated Press reported.

Mr Gül also insisted that both communities on Cyprus should live separately and that settlers from Turkey, currently staying in the Turkish Cypriot side, should be allowed to stay.

These statements were opposed by both the Greek Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos and the Greek Foreign Ministry, who insist that the Cyprus settlement should comply fully, and without exceptions, with EU norms.

Mr Gül's announcement on Turkey's position after a three-hour meeting yesterday with the Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkey's military chief, come ahead of reunification talks held in Switzerland.

Due to lack of progress in the negotiations so far between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot sides, Greece and Turkey will now also be present at the negotiating table.

The meeting in Switzerland begins this Wednesday.

If no deal emerges by 29 March, the UN secretary general Kofi Annan has been authorised to `fill in the blanks' himself, and put the deal for a referendum to be approved by both Cypriot sides on 20 April.

A setback to this negotiation round occurred last week when Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash said he would not be attending.