Turkey has accused the European Union of blackmail and said it will not respond to a deadline on a deal with Cyprus.
Issues such as Cyprus cannot be solved by blackmail or setting deadlines," said Turkey's foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, earlier today.
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.
Turkey refuses to open it ports or airports to Cyprus, an EU member, demanding that an international embargo imposed on Turks in the North of the island be lifted first.
Turkey has 40,000 troops in the North and props up an ethnically Turkish government there that is not recognised by any other country in the world.
Mr Gul said he was still hopeful diplomacy could resolve the problem. He said he would go to Helsinki, Finland, on Sunday for talks on Finland's plan to address both sides' concerns.
EU government leaders are to hold a December 14th-15th summit that will assess whether membership talks can continue, a conclusion that will be based in part on a recommendation of the EU's executive commission, which could be made as early as December 6th.
The intransigence on both sides has always threatened to derail Turkey's bid for EU membership, more so after Cyprus joined the union in 2004.