Pressure on Ankara to open its ports to Greek Cyprus has been rising. Despite Turkey’s announcements that no further steps would be taken on the Cyprus issue before the international isolation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is ended, European Union Term President Finland’s Premier Matti Vanhanen said yesterday that Ankara should make a decision on the opening of its ports to Greek Cyprus.
He stated that if Turkey does not open its ports to Greek Cypriots, the EU Commission, in the first week of December, is expected to make recommendations on the matter, and that during its gathering on Dec. 11, the EU foreign ministers could decide on Turkey’s accession process in line with that advice.
Vanhanen stressed that the topic would not be allowed to dominate the summit of the 25-nation bloc’s leaders on Dec. 14-15, who will review Ankara’s progress since the opening of accession talks in October 2005 and have the final say if Ankara does not open its ports and airports to Greek Cyprus by then, but decisions would be made before the meeting.
The summit will take up various topics including the enlargement process, he added. In related news, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn also stated that they had already held a summit for Turkey so there was no need for a new one.

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