Turkish Call For Referendum On Cyprus' EU Accession Rejected

by Lorys Charalambous, Tax-News.com, Cyprus

28 May 2002

Speaking at an EU-Cyprus Joint Parliamentary Committee meeting in Nicosia last week, EU rapporteur on Cyprus, Jacques Poos warned that Turkish requests for a separate referendum on EU accession represent a 'trap', according to a report from the Cyprus Weekly news service.

'If we talk of a referendum we talk of elections,' the EU official told Committee members, adding that there would also be difficulties in establishing eligibility for voting purposes, as in addition to the occupied territory's Turkish Cypriot citizens, there are 35,000 troops and 100,000 settlers from the Turkish mainland stationed there.

'In such a case the referendum will mean a Turkish veto on Cyprus' accession. You must be very careful of this trap,' he warned.

Responding to Turkish threats to escalate tensions in the region if Cyprus - which has closed almost all of its EU aquis chapters - is admitted to the European Union before a settlement is reached, Mr Poos reiterated the EU's position that the island will join the European bloc regardless of whether an agreement has been reached, and observed that the presence of Turkish troops in an EU member state would prove problematic, and that they could be replaced by an international force.

Tasso Papdopoulos, co-chairman of the Committee, said at the weekend that if Turkey were to respond to Cyprus's accession by 'annexing' the north, then this would invalidate Turkey's partnership agreement with the EU.

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