EU asked to use both carrot, stick on Turkey

NICOSIA

Greek Cypriot FM Kozakou-Marcoullis blames Turkey for deadlock on Cyprus. EPA photo

Turkey’s EU accession process should be used both as a positive and negative incentive, the foreign minister of Greek Cyprus has said.

“Turkey’s accession should act not only as a carrot but also as a stick, only then could Turkey’s intransigence finally be broken,” Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis said, referring to Turkey’s stance on unification talks, Greek Cypriot daily Famagusta Gazette reported on Aug. 12.

Referring to the U.N.-led talks which have been ongoing since 2008 with a view to reunify the island, Kozakou-Marcoullis said that unfortunately Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Derviş Eroğlu, had led them to a deadlock through their constantly intransigent and provocative stance.

Eroğlu said in late June that the halted reunification talks between the Turkish and Greek Cypriots could only be resumed with the introduction of a deadline for negotiations and lifting of the embargos imposed on Turkish Cyprus.

Kozakou-Marcoullis accused Eroğlu of backtracking from the agreed basis of the talks and from convergences achieved between Greek Cyprus President Demetris Christofias and former Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat. She called Turkey’s rhetoric on the Cyprus issue “a great fraud.”

According to the daily, Kozakou-Marcoullis said the international community and particularly Greek Cyprus’ EU partners should “wake up” and set aside any other interests they might have regarding Turkey.