Turkey signed an accord extending its customs union with the EU to Cyprus and other new EU members -- a key step toward opening membership talks with the bloc -- but said its signature was not recognition of the Cypriot government.
Britain, which holds the EU presidency, sought to downplay Ankara's non-recognition.
The agreement "is not about recognition [of Cyprus]. It is about signing a customs accord," said an anonymous British diplomat.
It was signed Friday by the British and Turkish envoys to the EU.
In a separate declaration, Turkey noted that the central obstacle to recognition -- the three-decade division of Cyprus into a Greek Cypriot controlled south and a Turkish occupied north -- did not exist when Turkey first signed its customs union with the EU some 40 years ago.
The statement said today's Cypriot government speaks only for the island's Greek Cypriot south, not the Turkish Cypriots who live in a republic established by Ankara and which no other country in the world recognizes.
For its part, Britain, speaking on behalf of all 25 EU nations, simply noted that Turkey reiterated "its long-standing policy on Cyprus," and it welcomed Ankara's commitment to continue to help in the search for end to the island's division. To begin those negotiations, which are expected to last many years, Turkey had to first extend its long-standing customs union with the EU to 10 countries -- including Cyprus -- that joined the bloc just over a year ago.
But its refusal to recognize the government in Nicosia has become a contentious issue in its bid to join the EU.
A ship that appears to be taking on the identity of a scrapped gas carrier exited the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, showing how strategies to get through the waterway are evolving as the Middle East war progresses. The vessel identifying as liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Jamal left the Strait on Friday morning, ship-tracking data show. However, the same tanker was also recorded as having beached at an Indian demolition yard in October last year, where it is being broken up, according to market participants and port agent’s reports. The ship claiming to be Jamal is likely a zombie vessel that
Japan is to downgrade its description of ties with China from “one of its most important” in an annual diplomatic report, according to a draft reviewed by Reuters, as relations with Beijing worsen. This year’s Diplomatic Bluebook, which Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is expected to approve next month, would instead describe China as an important neighbor and the relationship as “strategic” and “mutually beneficial.” The draft cites a series of confrontations with Beijing over the past year, including export controls on rare earths, radar lock-ons targeting Japanese military aircraft and increased pressure around Taiwan. The shift in tone underscores a deterioration
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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) yesterday faced a regional election battle in Rhineland-Palatinate, now held by the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). Merz’s CDU has enjoyed a narrow poll lead over the SPD — their coalition partners at the national level — who have ruled the mid-sized state for 35 years. Polling third is the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which spells a greater threat to the two centrist parties in several state elections in September in the country’s ex-communist east. The picturesque state of Rhineland-Palatinate, bordering France, Belgium and Luxembourg and with a population of about 4 million,
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