Turkey's chief EU negotiator says Turkey must not take EU report seriously

Egemen Bağış hosted a breakfast with representatives of media organizations in Brussels and strongly reacted to the European Parliament's draft resolution that called on Turkey to withdraw its soldiers from Cyprus immediately to support ongoing negotiations, open Maraş, or Varosha, to the Greek Cypriots, and solve the problem Turkish citizens settled in Turkish Cyprus were causing.

The European Parliament is expected to vote on the draft resolution regarding Turkey next week. The Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament adopted the draft by 61 votes with 11 abstaining.

“The political groups in the European Parliament are trying to please the Greek and Greek Cypriot parliamentarians. The draft is not drawing an objective picture, taken into consideration the balances in the European Parliament to reach a compromise, and is politicized,” Bağış told journalists.

He also said Turkey could neither sacrifice Cyprus for the EU membership bid, nor the EU for Cyprus. The minister said he was hopeful about ongoing comprehensive negotiations in Cyprus, and called on the international community to support the two leaders on the island.

Bağış said the draft resolution was actually hampering ongoing negotiations, not supporting them. Although it is not binding, the European Parliament report is important since it reflects the EU's perspective.

/Hurriyet Daily News/