Has there been any progress or update of the Lifting on Embargoes in the North?? Is this a further step toward colonisation? What does this mean for Cyprus if the Embargoes are lifted?

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New EU warning on Turkey Reforms

Turkey faces years of tough EU membership negotiations
The European Parliament has adopted a report warning that the pace of reform in Turkey has slowed, jeopardising Ankara's EU membership bid.

But MEPs dropped a clause demanding that Turkey recognise as "genocide" the mass killings of Armenians in 1915.

Turkey maintains that the Armenians were casualties of turmoil as the Ottoman empire crumbled. Armenians say up to 1.5 million died in a "genocide".

The non-binding report said Turkey had failed to ensure freedom of expression.

It called for the abolition or amendment of Turkish laws such as Article 301 "which threaten European free speech norms".

Article 301 of the Turkish penal code has been used to prosecute several well-known authors for "insulting Turkishness".

Cyprus deadlock

The MEPs also called on Turkey to recognise the Republic of Cyprus and lift its embargo on Cypriot ships and planes, saying continued failure to do so "will have serious implications for the [EU] negotiation process and could even bring it to a halt".

The report was adopted by 429 votes in favour to 71 against, with 125 abstentions.

It said the European Parliament "regrets the slowing down of the reform process" in Turkey, though it welcomed some recent Turkish steps to crack down on torture and corruption and to extend women's rights.

On the Armenian question, MEPs said Turkey must come to terms with its past, although recognition of the "genocide" was not a condition for EU accession.

The European Commission is to publish its next annual report on Turkey's progress on 8 November.

The parliament's report came a day after Bulgaria and Romania were given the go-ahead to join the EU on 1 January 2007.

In Ankara, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the EU against introducing any new entrance criteria.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5385954.stm

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October 06, 2006

Merkel: Turkey-EU Talks Will Be Long
By MICHAEL FISCHER
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday that Turkey's membership talks with the European Union would be a "long road," but that Berlin is committed to seeing negotiations progress.

Merkel's own conservative party remains skeptical about Turkey joining the bloc.

Before becoming chancellor, she and her Christian Democrats called for a "privileged partnership" for Turkey with the EU instead of full membership - a proposal which Ankara strongly rejected.

The German government - a coalition between the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats who favor Turkey joining the EU - now supports membership talks.

But the proposal of offering Ankara something less than full membership would still be preferable, Merkel said.

"There is no change of mind - the position of the (Christian Democratic) Union remains that we would see a privileged partnership as a more correct result," Merkel told Germany's ARD television during her visit.

"We always say that these negotiations are being conducted with an open result - they are still right at the beginning, and so a long road lies ahead of us, at the end of which the decision will have to be made what the result is," she said.

Several EU countries have voiced concerns about allowing Turkey to join the 25-nation bloc, and some - including Merkel and leaders in France and Austria - have backed the "privileged partnership" idea.

There is widespread concern within Europe about admitting a predominantly Muslim country with a large population that is relatively poor and has a questionable record on human rights and democracy.

Many are also questioning the EU's readiness to expand again after it added 10 new nations in 2004 and is to see Bulgaria and Romania join next year.

Earlier this week, the EU's top official in charge of enlargement, Olli Rehn, warned that European leaders advocating a "privileged partnership" were undermining the bloc's credibility and harming reforms in Turkey by fueling resentment.

Support for joining the EU inside Turkey is dwindling, with many angered by what they perceive as continuous stumbling blocks placed on its path to membership.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged European nations to extend Turkey the same "interest and support" they gave other countries that joined recently.

Merkel arrived in Turkey on Thursday for a visit aimed at driving home the EU's demand that Ankara lift its trade embargo against Cyprus, a member of the bloc.

Merkel said Turkey must open its ports and airports to Cyprus, but Erdogan ruled out the possibility unless an international embargo against a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the north of the island was lifted.

The island has been split into a Greek Cypriot south and a Turkish-occupied north since a 1974 Turkish invasion sparked by a coup aiming to unite the island with Greece.

Only Turkey recognizes the breakaway state in the north. Although the island joined the EU in 2004, the bloc's benefits essentially only extend to the internationally recognized south.

In a speech to a German and Turkish business forum, Merkel called for calm in the debate over Turkey's place in the EU.

"Let us not encourage those who see emotions more than facts," she said, adding that the EU would not impose new conditions.

"We won't put up any new hurdles," she said.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-eur/2006/oct/06/100602963.htm