Bagis blames Cyprus for blocking Turkey’s EU accession

Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (29.07.11, online) publishes an interview with Turkey’s EU Minister Egemen Bagis. In a meeting in his working office, which was upgraded to European Union Ministry from EU General-Secretariat, Bagis explained to the Daily News the duties of this new Ministry, as well as how Turkey was evaluating the future of Turkey-EU relations.

“They should use their imagination. How would the EU be without Turkey? We have thought about a Turkey without Europe since 1959. But at the point we are at now, we believe it’s time for them to think this over,” Bagis said.

Earlier in July, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened the European Union that relations would be suspended in the second half of 2012 if “Greek Cyprus” were to assume the bloc’s term presidency without the collaboration of “Turkish Cyprus”.

The paper writes inter alia: “The discouraging mood around talks to resolve the Cyprus dispute has further strained relations between Turkey and the EU. Turkey blames Greek Cyprus for the deadlock in talks and criticizes the bloc for not putting enough pressure on the Greek Cypriots. Calling on EU countries, Bagis said: ‘Do not remain silent to the efforts of Greek Cyprus — the spoiled child of Europe — to block Turkey in almost every field.'”