Southern EU Summit sends strong message to Turkey

Source:al Jazeera Date:02Feb2019

The Joint Declaration statement issued after the summit also called on Turkey to normalise relations with the Republic of Cyprus by “lifting the restrictions in its ports and airports/airspace towards Cyprus and EU companies related to Cyprus”.

Yucel Vural, a political scientist at the Eastern Mediterranean University, said it was “predictable” that since Cyprus joined the EU in 2004, the bloc’s influence on the island’s long-standing problem would increase.

“Now we are in that stage in which a group of EU members attempt to stress their direct involvement in the Cyprus dispute,” Vural told Al Jazeera, saying the EU’s role is beyond “a symbolic solidarity with the Greek Cypriot-led Republic of Cyprus”.