Negotiations to begin with Turkey

European Union leaders meeting in Brussels in the European Council agreed that the EU should start membership negotiations with Turkey. But before the negotiations could begin, Turkey must sign an agreement extending its present customs union agreement with the EU to the ten new member states, including Cyprus.

Turkey, which invaded and partitioned the island in 1974, recognises the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) but not the predominantly Greek Cypriot government in Nicosia.

This government is however recognised as the representative of the whole island by the EU itself and the international community.

Cyprus had demanded before the Council meeting that Turkey must give it an explicit recognition before it accedes to the start of negotiations. There had been fears that Nicosia might veto Turkey's application as it had every right to do.

The Cypriot Government must be praised for its maturity in choosing the road of consensus instead of confrontation once a majority of member states had indicated their readiness to say Yes to Turkey.

Cyprus will have ample opportunities in the years to come to apply its veto and Ankara must not strut about too proudly that it has managed once again to override the sensitivities of a proud small island.

As the European Parliament reminded Turkey a couple of days before the European Council, the accession negotiations are intergovernmental between the governments of the 25 member states on the one hand and Turkey.

The Greek Cypriots have been under attack since last April when they exercised their democratic right, a supposedly hallowed principle in the EU, and rejected the Annan reunification plan in a referendum. The main aim of the plan was to bring to an end the physical division of the island on terms dictated by the powers, the plan's ghost writers.

The plan also sought to incinerate the Cyprus Republic and allow a new Greek-Turkish one to rise like a phoenix from the ashes.

The implicit recognition that Cyprus will obtain from Turkey as a result of the Brussels deal is less than what the Nicosia government had publicly hoped for. However, the decision to begin membership negotiations with Turkey also means in practice that the sooner Ankara rids itself of the Cyprus question, the smoother would its road to EU membership become.

The ball is in Ankara's court over Cyprus as well as membership. It is up to it to show its good will as it did up to last April to ensure a peaceful and justice solution to the Cyprus problem.

As for the rest of the European Council's decision on Turkey, negotiations will be open ended with no fixed date as to when the talks are likely to be completed. If conditions are not met, there is no guarantee that Turkey will be allowed to join the EU.

Turkey must continue with its extensive economic and political reforms. The rest of the EU member states will only consent to its membership once they are satisfied that these reforms are thorough enough and above all irreversible.

The Turkish government must be doubly happy with the result. It has obtained a date for the start of the membership negotiations, it has underpinned its reform policy with a promise of eventual membership if it does what is needed and the prime minister can return to Ankara and still tell his people, at least for the moment, that Turkey has not conceded over Cyprus. In fact it has.

The Turks must also keep in mind that the European public has to be won over or else they will not go in. Europeans will only admit a European Turkey, nothing less.