Britain Urges Turkey to Open Ports to Cyprus as Pledged

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Britain urged Turkey on Monday to honour a pledge to the European Union to open its ports and airports to neighbouring Cyprus, saying it would be an important step in Ankara's talks to join the bloc. Turkey has no diplomatic relations with Cyprus, an EU member since 2004, but is under pressure to make good a promise to open its ports to its southern neighbour under a deal which enabled it to start accession talks in 2005. "I urge the Turkish government to honour the commitments that it has already made. We would like to see the ports opened, we'd like to see them making that commitment again and seeing action rather than just words," said British Minister for Europe Chris Bryant. Turkish compliance with its commitments will be discussed by EU heads of state at a summit in mid-December.