TRKNWS-L NEWS from Vic McDonald

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Subject: TRKNWS-L NEWS from Vic McDonald


EU close to deal on Cyprus admission talks
    By Jonathan Clayton
    BRUSSELS, Feb 2 (Reuter) - The European Union, worried about security on
its borders, is close to a landmark deal in which it begins talks on
admitting Cyprus as a full EU member and Greece lifts its objections to a
huge trade pact for Turkey.

    EU sources said on Thursday the plan could allow signing of a lucrative
customs union with Turkey as early as March 6.

    The pact has been blocked by Greek objections linked to the unresolved
question of Cyprus, divided into Greek and Turkish communities since 1974
following a Turkish invasion.

    ``The (European) Commission believes the time has come for a
breakthrough,'' said one source. EU foreign ministers were to discuss the
plan next Monday in Brussels.

    In London, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said clinching a customs
union agreement with Turkey was one of the priorities of France's current
six-month stint as EU president.

    ``I have some reasons to think that it'll be possible to attain this goal
by the beginning of March,'' Juppe said after informal talks with his
British, Turkish, German and Italian counterparts on Turkey's relations with
Europe.

    He said: ``We attach a lot of importance to the stability of a
propsperous and democratic Turkey and I think the conclusion of a customs
union agreement would contribute toward this goal.''

    In Nicosia, a Cyprus government spokesman welcomed word the Commission
was ready to speed up negotiations on the divided island's membership of the
EU, but said these should not be directly linked with a final peace accord.

    ``Of course, our primary wish is to have the Cyprus problem solved and we
are certain the European Union could put pressure on Turkey (to help towards
this),'' spokesman Yiannakis Cassoulides said.

    ``But even if the island is not reunited by the time negotiations start,
we expect Cyprus to become an EU member because it cannot stay Turkey's
victim forever,'' he added.

    An EU-Turkey pact would give Ankara closer relations with Brussels than
any country other than Norway and Iceland. In return for Ankara dropping its
tariffs on EU goods, it would win access for its products to the vast EU
market.

    By linking the EU-Turkey customs union with a date for opening talks on
Cypriot membership, Commission officials hope to offer both sides incentives
to make progress on a long-term peace settlement.

    The diplomatic initiative follows growing anxiety within the EU over
instability on its southern flank, particularly from Moslem fundamentalism
now rampant in Algeria and Egypt.

    ``We want good relations with such an important neighbour, an Islamic
state and a NATO member with borders with both Europe and Iraq and Iran,''
one senior EU source told Reuters. ``Our relations cannot remain forever
frozen.''

    Greece last vetoed the customs union, due to take effect at the end of
1995, at an EU foreign ministers meeting last December. It also blocked the
release to Ankara of 600 million European currency units ($726 million) in
grants and loans.

    Athens said, meanwhile, that it wanted a date for bringing divided Cyprus
into the EU. It had previously vetoed agreements, saying it wanted Turkish
troops withdrawn from the island first.

    Other EU states, dismayed by the jailing of eight Turkish
parliamentarians accused of supporting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK), had warned Ankara it had to improve its tarnished human rights record
if it wanted closer EU ties.

    In London, Turkish Foreign Minister Murat Karayalcin welcomed signs that
Greece would no longer block a customs union and said Ankara was ready to
permit outside investigations of alleged human rights violations.

    The Cyprus government believes both the Greek and the Turkish communities
would benefit from EU accession, but Turkey and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf
Denktash strongly disagree.

    Denktash, whose Turkish Republic of northern Cyprus is recognised only by
Ankara, has threatened closer integration with Turkey if the Greek Cypriot
authorities were allowed to submit a formal EU membership application.

    EU sources suggested on Thursday, however, that in the context of the
proposed deal, talks on Cypriot membership could open just six months after
the end of the EU inter-governmental review on its future due to begin in
1996.

    ``In the end, good relations with the EU may be more important than
constant tension over Cyprus,'' one source said.

Turkish minister off to talks with Western allies

    ANKARA, Feb 1 (Reuter) - Turkish Foreign Minister Murat Karayalcin left
on Wednesday for London where he will meet his British, German, French and
Italian counterparts to discuss Ankara's links with the European Union and
other issues.

    ``We will discuss Turkey's customs union with the European Union and I
will relay the latest developments concerning the pipeline for Caspian oil,''
he told reporters before leaving Ankara.

    The meeting on Thursday will be the second after Ankara, Bonn and London
started holding joint talks on regional and international issues in January
1994. The consultations have since expanded to include France and Italy.

    Ankara hopes an EU Association Council meeting in March will seal the
customs union held up because of EU worries about Turkey's human rights
record and a Greek veto.

    Turkey said on Tuesday it had secured U.S. support for its proposal to
transport Azeri and Kazakh crude oil to Western markets by a pipeline through
Turkey.

    Foreign ministry officials said the London talks would also cover the
Russian war in Chechnya, the Azeri-Armenian conflict, Bosnia and recent
clashes between Kurdish factions in northern Iraq.
Transmitted: 95-02-01 11:04:55 EST