IOL: EU Crises looming ?-Turkey will not respond to Cyprus deadline

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EU Crises looming? - Turkey will not respond to Cyprus deadline

Turkey’s foreign minister today said there would be no response to deadlines on the Cyprus problem, a day after the European Union warned Turkey that it must speed up efforts to resolve the stalemate. “Issues like Cyprus cannot be solved by blackmail or setting deadlines,” said foreign minister Abdullah Gul.

Finnish prime minister Matti Vanhanen, whose country now holds the rotating EU presidency, said time was running out for Turkey and that its membership bid faced “an uncertain future” if the Cyprus problem remained unsolved. Note

EU-Digest: The Cyprus situation is far more complicated than is presently being expressed by the Finish Presidency of the EU. Half of Cyprus was let in as a EU member while the Charter cleary points out that no country can be admitted into the EU while there is a political dispute going on. In addition the Turkish half of Cyprus voted for unification in a UN supervised vote, while the Greek half voted against. The Cyprus question as a whole needs to be solved first before any ultimatums are passed out. Either we want Turkey in the EU or not, but playing "cat and mouse" is not fair.