Turkey to sign EU customs protocol after July

Ankara (dpa) – Turkey indicated on Monday that it will sign a European Union customs protocol, the last major barrier to the beginning of membership talks scheduled to start in October, the Anadolu news agency reported.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul on Monday confirmed that Ankara had received from Brussels over the weekend the text of the so-called Ankara protocol which will extend the already existing E.U.-Turkey customs union to 10 new members, including Cyprus, which joined the E.U. last year and will now study it closely.

While not categorically stating Turkey will sign the protocol, Gul said the document would most likely be signed after July during the British presidency of the E.U.

There are still fears that Ankara may refuse to sign the protocol due to the delicate issue of Cyprus. Turkey does not recognise the Greek-dominated Republic of Cyprus but instead has diplomatic relations with the so-called “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”.

Gul told reporters on Monday that while the customs union would be extended to the 10 new E.U. members it will not mean that Turkey officially recognises Cyprus.

“The movement of goods (from Greek Cyprus) will be free, but we recognise the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. This will continue,” Gul said.

The Greek Cyriot government has already approved the protocol, which it sees as a prerequisite for the commencement of accession talks on October 3. “We know the text. It contains no negative elements for our side,” said Cypriot government spokesman Kypros Chrysostomidis.

Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister Giorgos Iakovou told Cypriot radio Monday that the protocol was “the first step for the normalisation of relations between Ankara and Nicosia”.

Last year a U.N.-backed plan to re-unite the island failed when Greek Cypriots overwhelmingly voted “no” in a referendum. In their own referendum Turkish Cypriots backed the plan.