Turkey EU hopes hinge on Cyprus deal – Christofias

Cyprus President Demetris Christofias said Turkey's admission to the European Union hinged on progress towards reunifying the ethnically-split Mediterranean island.
"We do not wish to derail Turkey's EU accession course, but it must be understood by all that this is not a blank cheque," Christofias told journalists in Nicosia on Friday.
He did not spell out how he might hold up the process if Turkey did not cooperate. But new countries can not join the bloc without the approval of existing members.
"For Turkey's accession course to move forward, Turkey must … at long last assist in solving the Cyprus question and stop acting like an occupying power on European soil," Christofias added.
Turkey has been asking for admission to the EU for years. France and other EU states have held up parts of the admission negotiations, citing the Cyprus standoff since 1974 and other issues.
Trouble between its two main communities predates that by a decade, when a power-sharing government crumbled in violence, prompting the dispatch of a U.N. peacekeeping force in 1963.
Greek Cypriots are recognised worldwide as running the only legitimate government on the island, with a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state recognised only by Ankara.
A new round of peace talks was launched in 2008, seeking to reunite the island under a federal umbrella.
Christofias said progress in the talks had slowed since Dervis Eroglu, the hard-line Turkish Cypriot leader, took over the negotiations from his predecessor Mehmet Ali Talat a year ago.