Ankara Anatolia news agency (07.12.11) reported from Ankara on statements by the co-chair of Turkey-European Union (EU) Joint Parliament Committee Afif Demirkiran, who has said on Wednesday, that Turkey would not attend European Council meetings to be chaired by the “Greek Cypriot administration”, as he called the Republic of Cyprus.

 In statements to reporters in a breakfast, Afif Demirkiran said that the committee could go on its initiatives and added: “However, we will freeze our relations with the council.”

 Pointing out that there was a bottleneck in their relations with the EU and that the union had not opened negotiations with Turkey on any chapter in the last one year and blocked talks on 18 chapters, Afif Demirkiran added:  “It is not possible to understand this (stance). Cyprus problem has seriously blocked Turkey-EU relations”.

 Demirkiran said the EU had made a mistake by admitting the Republic of Cyprus as a member, but hoped a compromise would come out of Cyprus negotiations held under the auspices of the United Nations. “We believe in the EU project, and we maintain our relations with the EU in technical and regulation level whether or not new chapters are opened,” Demirkiran said.

 Demirkiran said Turkey’s economic situation was very well, but EU’s rating was continuously downgrading. “Under these circumstances, the EU needed Turkey, Turkey did not need the EU”, Demirkiran said. He then continue saying that if the EU wanted to become a global actor and spread democracy in the region, it needed Turkey. “We do not want to cut relations with the EU in such a circumstance, and leave the union alone, because we want to save the EU and we want the EU not to be a slave of a minor issue like Cyprus,” Demirkiran said.

 Demirkiran said Europe’s energy safety depended on Turkey, and Turkey would like to join the EU when the right time comes.