Erdogan disappointed at Chirac’s Cyprus comments

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his disappointment Thursday at comments by French President Jacques Chirac that membership talks with the European Union cannot start until Turkey recognises the Republic of Cyprus.

Speaking to journalists in Istanbul, Erdogan implied that Chirac had gone back on his word on the issue and declared that insistence on recognition of Cyprus amounted to a new political condition.

“When (Chirac) telephoned me on December 17 (2004) to congratulate Turkey (on being given a date for the start of membership talks), he said to me on this point that this was not political recognition,” Erdogan said.

He said that German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and E.U. Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso had also reassured him that recognition of Cyprus was not a condition.

Turkey believed it had crossed the final hurdle to beginning E.U. membership talks, scheduled to begin on October 3, when last week it signed a protocol extending a customs union to all 10 new members of the E.U., including Cyprus.

It issued a side declaration, however, clearly stating that extension of the customs union did not mean that it actually recognised the Republic of Cyprus.

Erdogan said that there was no way that Turkey would accept any new conditions before the membership talks begin and that he expected E.U. leaders to recognise this. (dpa)