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.
DOUBLE-MURDER CASE: The officer told the dispatcher he would check the locations of the callers, but instead headed to a pizzeria, remaining there for about an hour A New Jersey officer has been charged with misconduct after prosecutors said he did not quickly respond to and properly investigate reports of a shooting that turned out to be a double murder, instead allegedly stopping at an ATM and pizzeria. Franklin Township Police Sergeant Kevin Bollaro was the on-duty officer on the evening of Aug. 1, when police received 911 calls reporting gunshots and screaming in Pittstown, about 96km from Manhattan in central New Jersey, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renee Robeson’s office said. However, rather than responding immediately, prosecutors said GPS data and surveillance video showed Bollaro drove about 3km
Tens of thousands of people on Saturday took to the streets of Spain’s eastern city of Valencia to mark the first anniversary of floods that killed 229 people and to denounce the handling of the disaster. Demonstrators, many carrying photos of the victims, called on regional government head Carlos Mazon to resign over what they said was the slow response to one of Europe’s deadliest natural disasters in decades. “People are still really angry,” said Rosa Cerros, a 42-year-old government worker who took part with her husband and two young daughters. “Why weren’t people evacuated? Its incomprehensible,” she said. Mazon’s
‘MOTHER’ OF THAILAND: In her glamorous heyday in the 1960s, former Thai queen Sirikit mingled with US presidents and superstars such as Elvis Presley The year-long funeral ceremony of former Thai queen Sirikit started yesterday, with grieving royalists set to salute the procession bringing her body to lie in state at Bangkok’s Grand Palace. Members of the royal family are venerated in Thailand, treated by many as semi-divine figures, and lavished with glowing media coverage and gold-adorned portraits hanging in public spaces and private homes nationwide. Sirikit, the mother of Thai King Vajiralongkorn and widow of the nation’s longest-reigning monarch, died late on Friday at the age of 93. Black-and-white tributes to the royal matriarch are being beamed onto towering digital advertizing billboards, on
POWER ABUSE WORRY: Some people warned that the broad language of the treaty could lead to overreach by authorities and enable the repression of government critics Countries signed their first UN treaty targeting cybercrime in Hanoi yesterday, despite opposition from an unlikely band of tech companies and rights groups warning of expanded state surveillance. The new global legal framework aims to bolster international cooperation to fight digital crimes, from child pornography to transnational cyberscams and money laundering. More than 60 countries signed the declaration, which means it would go into force once ratified by those states. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the signing as an “important milestone,” and that it was “only the beginning.” “Every day, sophisticated scams destroy families, steal migrants and drain billions of dollars from our economy...
RSS