Turkey to ‘bypass’ EU obstacles

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

Turkey will have direct relations with the EU Commission during the Greek Cypriot administration’s EU presidency term, thanks to “positive agenda,” Turkey’s EU Minister Egemen Bağış has said. Turkey has already announced that it will suspend its relations with the EU presidency during the second half of 2012 if there is no solution to the Cyprus question before that time.

Ankara and the EU have recently launched a “positive agenda” to prepare Turkey for harmonization in the areas related to blocked chapters, in a move to break the two-year standstill in the country’s membership talks. The positive agenda was a bridge, a bypass to overcome obstacles in front of Turkey’s EU membership talks, Bağış told private Kanal 7 Television channel yesterday.

It will take place during Greek Cypriot administration’s rotating presidency, and will involve the discussion of eight accession chapters through working groups at the EU commission. However, Bağış said the positive agenda was not an alternative to negotiations for full EU membership.