A last-minute offer by Turkey to open a major port to traffic from Cyprus in a bid to avert a partial suspension of its European Union membership talks sowed confusion among EU governments today.
A senior Turkish official said Ankara had told the Finnish EU presidency it would open one port provisionally for a year in a step towards meeting a treaty obligation to normalise trade with all new member states that joined the bloc in 2004.
Turkey would also be prepared to open an airport to Cypriot commercial flights but expected the opening of a port and an airport in Turkish Cypriot northern Cyprus, he said.
EU officials gave the move a guarded welcome, but the Greek Cypriot government in Nicosia said it made a mockery of Turkey's EU obligations. Even Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja seemed uncertain whether it came with strings attached.
"Turkey doesn't want to use the word conditions, but they are expecting that the EU will follow with some sort of move," he told reporters in the Finnish parliament. "This is a step forward but not fully meeting the Ankara criteria."
But Cypriot Foreign Minister George Lillikas told reporters: "It's a premeditated attempt to impress, and it's a mockery of the European Union. It is devoid of any serious content."
In Ankara, the senior official said Turkey wanted to see a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem through United Nations mediation in the course of 2007.
Turkey wants the EU to end the economic isolation of a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in northern Cyprus by allowing direct trade, which the Nicosia government has so far blocked.
The development came just before ambassadors of the bloc were to meet for a second day in Brussels to discuss how hard to sanction Ankara for failing to meet its EU customs union obligation to allow normal trade with Cyprus.
"On its part, Turkey is wanting to communicate that it's important to avoid a bigger clash. To that end, it has approached with constructive ideas," Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said.
He said it would be up to EU ambassadors and then foreign ministers next Monday to decide how to take the matter forward.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry source said earlier any deal to open a port and an airport to Cyprus would also require the EU to make good on its pledge to ease the economic isolation of the self-proclaimed Turkish Cypriot state in northern Cyprus.