Brussels, 22/04/2010 (Agence Europe) - Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu held a meeting with Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative for foreign affairs and security, and with Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle, in Brussels on Wednesday 21 April. Discussion with Ashton mainly focused on the Iranian nuclear programme. Turkey, which is currently a member of the UN Security Council but opposed to new sanctions against Tehran, put itself forward as an intermediary between Iran and the major world nuclear powers for a controlled exchange of uranium that Iran could use for civilian purposes. On Tuesday, Davutoglu had held discussions in Tehran with the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. After these meetings, he had said “progress” had been made, saying he found the Iranians very “receptive”. During his meeting with Ashton, Davutoglu reiterated the Turkish stance whereby there is still room for a diplomatic solution, and that additional sanctions would only create pointless and additional tension in a region that is already volatile (economic sanctions, for example, would have direct repercussions on Iran's neighbours, including Turkey, he commented). Turkey is willing to act as intermediary as “we cannot remain indifferent to such an important issue (Iranian nuclear issue) happening right on our doorstep. We're not trying to defend one country from others. All we're dong is working to protect global and regional peace”, Davutoglu told the Turkish press after his talks with Catherine Ashton.
The meeting between Davutoglu and Stefan Füle was dominated by the Cypriot issue and the follow-up to the presidential elections in the northern part of the island, the process for Turkey's accession to the EU, and the Western Balkans. On the subject of Cyprus, Füle reiterated before the Turkish minister that the EU hoped the new leader of the Cypriot-Turkish community, Dervis Eroglu, would continue talks underway with the president of Cyprus, Demetris Christofias, with a view to the island's reunification. The first declarations made in Ankara after the elections on 18 April all show that the Turkish government, also, hopes efforts for resolving the Cypriot question will continue in order to reach a “comprehensive settlement” acceptable to both sides. Davutoglu spoke to Füle along the same lines, diplomatic sources say.
As far as EU membership is concerned, Stefan Füle reiterated Turkey's obligation to rapidly implement the Ankara protocol on extending customs union to Cyprus. Ankara refuses to open its ports and airports to Cypriots, arguing that the EU has not kept its “promise” to put an end to the isolation of northern Cyprus, by establishing direct trade with that part of the island. The draft regulation on direct trade is blocked in Council. The Commission deplores this blocking but considers that the two issues are not linked and that Turkey has at any rate undertaken to apply the Ankara protocol at the time when accession talks are opened. Unless there is some move from the Turkish side on this, some ten chapters of accession talks will therefore remain suspended. The state of progress in membership talks strictly speaking was also mentioned. According to European and Turkish diplomats, Turkey is on the point of adopting the legislative act still lacking (“opening benchmark”) to open talks for accession on the chapter concerning food safety and veterinary/phytosanitary issues. It is hoped that this chapter will be open by the end of the Spanish EU Presidency at the end of June.
Stefan Füle and Ahmet Davutoglu also spoke of the European prospects for the Western Balkans. The Turkish minister was in Belgrade early this week where, during a meeting with the Serbian president, Boris Tadic, he had made a strong appeal for EU membership by the Balkans. Speaking to the Turkish press after his meeting with Füle, Davutoglu also announced that the Turkish president, Abdullah Gül, had convened a trilateral summit in Istanbul on Saturday 24 April between Turkey, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, to be attended by the presidents of the three countries. “Saturday's summit meeting in Istanbul will be an important step for the Balkans and it will present a very important picture for the region”, said Davutoglu. Restoring good relations with Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina is crucial for ensuring stability in the Balkans, he added. (H.B./transl.jl)