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EU presidency plans high-level Cyprus talks-sources
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 30 - 10 - 2006


European Union president
Finland is trying to arrange discreet high-level talks next
Sunday to break a deadlock over Cyprus that threatens to derail
Turkey's EU membership negotiations, diplomats said on Monday, according to Reuters.
Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja aims to bring
together leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot
communities and the foreign ministers of Turkey and Greece in
Finland to discuss an initiative on opening trade and ports.
"It's the first time they have tried to bring the principals
together and it's not yet certain. They will go ahead only if
they see a prospect of progress," one EU diplomat said.
The aim was to create political momentum before the
executive European Commission publishes a progress report on
Turkey on Nov. 8, which will note that Ankara has not yet met a
treaty obligation to open its ports to shipping from Cyprus.
Cyprus, a divided island represented in the EU by the Greek
Cypriot government in Nicosia, has been obstructing Turkey's
accession negotiations to try to force Ankara to yield on the
ports issue and wider demands for recognition.
The Finnish Foreign Ministry and the countries involved
declined comment on the proposed talks. But Tuomioja told a news
conference in Helsinki: "We are still deeply engaged in trying
to find a solution to the Cyprus issue and all the parties we
have been in direct contact with have appreciated our efforts."
Asked by Reuters whether the presidency was preparing a
meeting of key players next weekend to discuss a way forward,
Cypriot Foreign Minister George Lillikas said: "We have been
asked not to speak about this so I cannot comment. I can say
that we are continuously in close contact with the Finns."
Details obtained by Reuters from sources on all sides
indicate Finland is proposing a trade-off under which Turkey
would open some ports to shipping from Cyprus.
In parallel, the Turkish Cypriots would be allowed to export
goods directly to the EU from the port of Famagusta under EU
supervision, and Greek Cypriots would be able to rebuild the
abandoned resort of Varosha under U.N. administration.
Both sides have demanded changes to the Finnish plan, which
has not yet been officially put on paper, but neither has
rejected it out of hand.
The Turkish Cypriots say it must include opening an airport
in northern Cyprus, which the Greek Cypriots categorically
reject. The Greek Cypriots want clearer guarantees that former
Greek Cypriot residents of Varosha will get their homes back,
the sources say.
European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, expected to
attend next weekend's talks if they take place, has urged Turkey
and the Turkish Cypriots to accept the Finnish initiative as the
best way to avoid a potential "train crash" in Turkey's EU bid.
In a move to improve the prospects of the Finnish plan, the
Commission last week released a first sum of 39 million euros in
aid to northern Cypriots under a development plan agreed in 2004
when the Turkish Cypriots voted for a U.N. peace plan rejected
in a referendum by the Greek Cypriots.
Diplomats said the director-general of the Finnish Foreign
Ministry for European affairs, Kare Halonen, was handling
detailed talks on the Cyprus initiative. He was in Ankara on
Monday and was due in Nicosia on Tuesday, they said.
The diplomats said the Finnish initiative was still a long
shot but neither side wanted to be blamed for rejecting it. If a
deal did emerge, it would be on the eve of a EU summit in
mid-December which will review what to do about Turkey's
accession talks.


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