MEPs regret Turkey’s remarks to freeze relations with Cyprus’ EU Presidency.

MEPs regret Turkey’s remarks to freeze relations with Cyprus’ EU Presidency.(FamagustaGazette).The European Parliament adopted today a resolution on the progress report on Turkey, pointing out that further progress of its accession course is closely related with reforms and keeping the promises it has undertaken as a candidate state. MEPs regret Ankara’s statements that it will freeze relations with Cyprus’ EU Presidency if the Cyprus problem is not resolved by mid-2012. The Parliament expressed support for the ongoing UN-led reunification negotiations and asked Turkey to begin withdrawing its forces from Cyprus. 
It “strongly supports the ongoing negotiations on the reunification of Cyprus under the auspices of the Secretary-General of the United Nations” and “stresses that a fair and viable settlement of the Cyprus issue must now be reached as a matter of urgency and calls on Turkey and all the parties concerned to work intensively and with good will for a comprehensive agreement”. In addition, it calls on the Government of Turkey to begin withdrawing its forces from Cyprus and to transfer Famagusta to the United Nations in accordance with Resolution 550 (1984) of the United Nations Security Council. At the same time, it “calls, in parallel, on the Republic of Cyprus to open the port of Famagusta under EU customs supervision in order to promote a positive climate for the successful solution of the ongoing reunification negotiations and allow Turkish Cypriots to trade directly in a legal manner that is acceptable to all”. The resolution further “encourages Turkey to intensify its support for the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus”. It also calls on Turkey “to refrain from any new settlement of Turkish citizens on Cyprus, as this would continue to change the demographic balance and reduce the allegiance of its citizens on the island to a future common state based on its common past”. Moreover, “it regrets Turkey’s statements that it will freeze relations with the Presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2012 if a solution to the Cyprus issue is not found by then” and “recalls that the European Union is based on the principles of sincere cooperation and mutual solidarity amongst all its Member States and that as a candidate country Turkey must commit to serene relations with the European Union and all its Member States; further recalls that the Presidency of the Council of the European Union is provided for in the Treaty on European Union”.Read the full story here.