EU Calls Off Cyprus Talks Ahead of Rights Report

The EU was forced last night to cancel an emergency summit on Cyprus which had been convened to avoid a looming crisis in Turkey's EU membership talks.

Finland, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, called off the meeting after opposition from Ankara and the Turkish Cypriot government.

The Finnish government had hoped to broker a compromise on Cyprus before the European Commission delivers what is expected to be a damning report on the state of Turkey's EU membership talks next Wednesday.

Olli Rehn, the European enlargement commissioner, will rebuke Turkey for slowing reforms on human rights and for refusing to open its ports and airports to Greek Cyprus. Ankara, which agreed in 2004 to extend its custom union to all EU members including Greek Cyprus, is refusing to act until a trade embargo on Turkish Cyprus is ended.

The impasse threatens to derail Turkey's EU talks because the Greek Cypriot government can veto any stage of the negotiations and because many EU countries believe Ankara's conduct on the divided island shows it is unfit to join the union. In the hope of keeping the talks alive Finland hoped to broker an agreement between Greek and Turkish Cyprus - plus Ankara - in talks in Finland this weekend.

This move ran into trouble after Ankara and the Turkish Cypriot government said the talks were circumventing the UN. Erkki Tuomioja, Finland's foreign minister, will attempt a final push in Brussels on Friday when he meets the Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat.

But Mr Talat said the EU should live up to its commitment to lift the trade embargo on Turkish Cyprus.

"A comprehensive solution can only be found through UN processes. We are calling for the lifting of the isolation of Turkish Cypriots not in return for anything given to Greek Cypriots," Mr Talat said.

His remarks were echoed by Abdullah Gul, the Turkish foreign minister, who accused the Finns of failing to create the right atmosphere for the talks.

The Finns had hoped to broker a three point plan. Turkey would have opened up a few of its ports to Greek Cypriot shipping; the port of Famagusta, which is controlled by Turkish Cypriot troops, would have been handed over to the EU; and Varosha, the resort area of Famagusta, a no man's land since the Turkish invasion in 1974, would have been handed over to the United Nations to allow Greek Cypriots to return.