Brussels, 27/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - The President of the European Council, Guy Verhofstadt, made an impromptu visit to Ankara on Tuesday afternoon to discuss with Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, before the European Council of Laeken, on the subject of developments in Cyprus (the first meeting in four years between President Clerides and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash, is scheduled to take place in one week's time) and on the conditions whereby Turkey may cease to block an EU/NATO agreement on access by the European Union to NATO means and assets, for its future crisis prevention and management operations. In principle, the EU hopes during the European Council of Laeken to declare its future rapid reaction force operational.
Mr Verhofstadt discussed the Turkish issue with Tony Blair in London on Monday. Mr Blair's government has, with the United States, sought over the past few months to find a compromise allowing account to be taken of the concerns expressed by Ankara regarding its security, but without going as far as to give Turkey the right of veto on future EU operations. The visit by Mr Verhofstadt was decided after the failure of a further attempt by the Political Director at the Foreign Office, Peter Ricketts, on Monday in Ankara, to find a solution with the Turks and the Americans, states BELGA/AFP. The Turkish Agency Anatolia states that Mr Ricketts, the Turkish Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs Ugu Ziyal and the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs at the State Department, Robert Bradke, had not reached an agreement after a discussion with Turkish Generals lasting ten hours.
In London, the first stage of his capital tour before the Summit (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.5), Mr Verhofstadt discussed the Declaration of Laeken and, above all, the choice of the Heads of State and Government in designating the president of the future Convention. La Libre Belgique on Tuesday cites the name of Italian Foreign Minister Renato Ruggiero in addition to the other names that have been doing the rounds for some time (Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok, former Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato, and the Finnish and French former Presidents, Martti Ahtisaari and Valéry Giscard d'Estaing).