Greece, Cyprus welcome EU bid to re-engage with Turkey

Greece and Cyprus have applauded Turkey’s efforts to improve relations with the European Union, but have stressed that progress should be gradual and not unconditional.

The foreign ministers of the European Union said they were ready to talk to Turkey again on July 20, but they did not explicitly resume membership negotiations with Ankara.

According to reports, Turkey has been a candidate for EU membership for more than two decades, but talks froze in 2016 due to the bloc’s worries about the country’s rule of law and human rights.

The division of Cyprus’s Greek and Turkish Cypriot populations, which has been a cause of contention between Greece and Turkey, has also been a hindrance.

Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Cypriot President, Nikos Christodoulides, whose countries are also EU members, said they welcomed a Turkey-EU re-engagement but that it had to be ‘gradual’, and, if necessary, ‘reversible’.

The two terms have been built into European terminology over Turkey for some years, reflecting in part the long and convulsed journey of the country in attempting to join the bloc.

Christodoulides said launching a positive agenda with Turkey also implied “positive moves” on Ankara’s part over Cyprus.

“It’s important that our EU partners are also taking the same view,” Christodoulides said.

Meanwhile, Cyprus was divided following a Turkish invasion in 1974, which was precipitated by a Greek Cypriot coup orchestrated by the military dictatorship that ruled Greece at the time. It is represented in the EU by a Greek Cypriot administration that is globally recognized.

In the past, sporadic peace talks centered on uniting the island under a two-zone federal umbrella approved by the United Nations. In recent years, the Turkish Cypriot side has lobbied for a two-state solution, which Greek Cypriots have opposed.

“Any partitionist thoughts of two states are completely off any agenda of discussion, and I want to be very clear about that,” Mitsotakis added.

Last Friday, Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar stated that resuming Cyprus peace talks would be possible only if Greek Cypriots acknowledged sovereign equality.