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EU urges Turkey to respect Cyprus as EU rotating presidency

22 June 2012 20:19 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The European Union (EU) on Friday called on Turkey to show respect to Cyprus after it takes over the EU rotating presidency at the beginning of the second half of 2012, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"In line with European Council conclusions of 9 December 2011, the EU expressed serious concerns and called for full respect of the role of the Presidency of the Council, a fundamental institutional feature of the EU which is provided for in the Treaty on the European Union," said an EU statement following the 50th meeting of EU-Turkey Association Council on Friday.

Turkey announced last September to freeze its relations with Cyprus.

In its Friday’s statement, the EU recalled Turkey’s obligation of full, non-discriminatory implementation of the Additional Protocol to the Association Agreement and the importance of progress in the normalization of bilateral relations between Turkey and all Member States, including the Republic of Cyprus.

According to the statement, the EU remained committed to engaging constructively with Turkey to resolve outstanding disputes.

The EU Helsinki Council recognized Turkey as an EU candidate country in 1999, and adopted the Accession Partnership for Turkey in 2001. Accession negotiations started in October 2005.

The dispute with Cyprus on the self-claimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus only recognized by Turkey is the main obstacle on the way of Turkey to join the EU.