EU Accession

Turkey's refusal to open its ports and airports to craft registered under the flag of the Republic of Cyprus, a European Union member whose Greek Cypriot government Turkey does not recognize, and lagging reforms have recently put a question mark next to Turkey's bid to join the EU.

In an interview with German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung over the weekened, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Turkey's EU accesssion talks would be in serious trouble if it did not lift trade restrictions on Cyprus.

However, appearing to contradict Merkel, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned against any premature move to break off talks with Turkey.

"I would strongly urge that in our interests and in the interests of Turkey, we should not be overly hasty in our conclusions. We ought to leave scope ... for a political compromise between Turkish interests and the interests of the Cypriots," Steinmeier told a conference of the Party of European Socialists in Berlin.

"I am sure that by January 1 we will find a solution between the Finnish presidency and the German presidency that will be supported by the European Commission, and hopefully by an overwhelming majority of the European Council," Steinmeier said.

Germany will take over the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union from Finland on Jan. 1.

"I am in favor of fair negotiations with Turkey. I know and I maintain that the Ankara Protocol will be ratified," Steinmeier added.

EU wants concrete actions

Several members of the European Union, including Expansion Commissioner Olli Rehn have repeatedly called for Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to take concrete steps to show Ankara remains committed to the accession talks, which began last year.

The Commission is expected to put forth a progress report Wednesday criticizing Turkey's slackening pace of reform in Turkey, particularly in regards to article 301, which outlaws "insulting Turkishness."

Over the weekend Erdogan attempted to ease European minds on the controversial issue.

"We are studying several options for how we can handle article 301 in harmony with the spirit of the (EU-oriented) reforms," he said.

Rehn, however, said the Commission had yet to see any details of the options Erdogan referred to.

"The stated intention by Prime Minister Erdogan to bring Turkish legislation on freedom of expression into line with European standards is a welcome initative," Rehn said, before adding a more cautious note.

"We expect this stated intention to be followed by concrete deeds, and we are thus waiting for concrete decisions."

Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot told Reuters in Ankara
Turkey needed to send a "political signal" to the EU that it was
doing all it can to push through reforms, including plans to
ease property rights for religious minorities.

"In my talks with (Foreign Minister Abdullah) Gul, I said
they should be sure that things are moving on both domesticreforms and Cyprus before the December EU summit," Bot said.