FRANCE: France have raised a potential new hurdle to Turkey starting European Union membership talks in October, saying yesterday that Ankara must first recognise Cyprus.
Britain, which holds the EU presidency, said the 25 EU leaders had never made recognition a prerequisite for opening negotiations and that the Cyprus question should be dealt with separately in a UN framework.
A Turkish official said the call by French prime minister Dominique de Villepin was an attempt to violate commitments the EU had made to Ankara last year, but he voiced confidence that president Jacques Chirac would keep his word to Turkey.
Greece upped the pressure over the divided island by postponing a planned visit to Turkey by prime minister Costas Karamanlis this month that would have been the first by a Greek premier in more than 46 years.
Mr de Villepin called into question the agreed date of October 3rd for the start of Turkey's accession talks just days after it met the final official EU condition by signing an agreement extending its customs union to new EU members, including Cyprus.
"It doesn't seem conceivable to me that a negotiation process of whatever kind can start with a country that does not recognise every member state of the European Union, in other words all 25 of them," said Mr de Villepin.
"Entering a negotiation process, whatever it is, first assumes recognition of each of the members."
Asked whether this meant that the start of entry talks could be delayed, Mr de Villepin said "of course", adding that it was "urgent to wait, to wait for Turkey to show a real willingness to enter into this negotiation process".
Any member state can theoretically block the opening of talks since all EU nations must unanimously approve a negotiating mandate before negotiations can begin.
However, Mr de Villepin did not go as far as to suggest Paris would veto the start of talks, saying France would determine its position after talks among EU foreign ministers in September.
Turkey signed the EU protocol last Friday but issued a declaration stipulating that the act did not signify recognition of the Greek-Cypriot government, viewed by Brussels and the international community as the sole legitimate authority on the island.
A spokesman for the executive European Commission said the EU should stick to the commitments it made last December.
"We must now move forward and open negotiations on October 3rd," the spokesman said. "The conditions set by the 25 member states, in our preliminary assessment, are fulfilled."
A British presidency official said EU leaders had never made recognition of Cyprus a condition for opening talks, recalling that President Chirac said last December that signing the protocol did not mean recognising Cyprus. Mr de Villepin was then foreign minister.
A Cypriot government spokesman welcomed Mr de Villepin's comments as "particularly positive".