4 October 2004

1. "Turkish soldier killed, three wounded in clash with Kurdish rebels", a Turkish soldier was killed and three others were wounded Saturday in fighting with Kurdish rebels in the east of the country, the Anatolia news agency reported.

2. "Turks, Kurdish Rebels Clash", Turkish troops and Kurdish rebels clashed in southeastern Turkey in fighting that killed two soldiers and a guerrilla, news reports said Sunday.

3. "Turkey’s human rights abuses need addressing", the Turkish government must stamp out the widespread use of torture if it is to be allowed entry into the EU writes Maggie Ronayne.

4. "Report criticises Turkey but talks likely", a European Commission report on Turkey criticises persistent torture and harassment of human rights workers but the EU executive is still set to give the green light next week for Ankara to start membership talks.

5. "European Public Uneasy Over Turkey's Bid to Join Union", polls throughout Europe suggest that many share the fear first expressed by former President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing of France that Turkey is not a European country and that Turkish membership would mean "the end of Europe.

6. "At The Gates Of The Union", Turkey has worked hard to reform its justice system and improve its human-rights record, all to meet the criteria for European Union membership. But is the E.U. ready to welcome its first Islamic member?

7. "Rallies in northern Iraq: Kurds call for vote on autonomy", tens of thousands of Kurds demonstrated in towns across Kurdish northern Iraq on Saturday, demanding a referendum on their autonomy and calling for the oil-rich city of Kirkuk to be made their capital. In Sulaimaniya, in northeastern Iraq, organizers said between 60,000 and 70,000 people converged on the local government headquarters, many carrying banners declaring that Kirkuk, a contested city outside of the Kurdish region, should be theirs.

8. "Turkey resolves dilemma over customs union with Cyprus", Turkey said Saturday it has resolved the conundrum caused by a lack of diplomatic ties with Cyprus which was preventing the smooth functioning of a nine-year-old customs union with the European Union.

1. - AFP - "Turkish soldier killed, three wounded in clash with Kurdish rebels":

ANKARA / 2 October 2004

A Turkish soldier was killed and three others were wounded Saturday in fighting with Kurdish rebels in the east of the country, the Anatolia news agency reported.

The clash erupted during a security operation, backed up with air cover, near the rural Kutuderesi region in the province of Tunceli, the report said.

It added that the operation was continuing against members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), now also known as KONGRA-GEL, which has fought Ankara for 20 years.

The group ended a five-year unilateral ceasefire with the government in June, raising tensions in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast.

Some 37,000 people have been killed since 1984 when the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the region.

2. - AP - "Turks, Kurdish Rebels Clash":

ISTANBUL / 3 October 2004

Turkish troops and Kurdish rebels clashed in southeastern Turkey in fighting that killed two soldiers and a guerrilla, news reports said Sunday.

The clashes broke out Saturday in Tunceli province, 480 miles east of the capital Ankara, the Anatolia news agency said.

One soldier was killed and three were wounded, one of whom later died in a hospital, the agency reported. A rebel was killed Sunday as a military operation against the guerrillas continued, Anatolia reported.

Officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

Rebels seeking autonomy in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast have battled government forces in a conflict that has killed more than 37,000 people since 1984.

Clashes tapered off after a rebel truce in 1999, which followed the capture of their leader, Abdullah Ocalan. But there has been a surge in violence since June 1, when the rebels declared an end to the cease-fire, saying Turkey had not responded in kind.

3. - The Irish Times - "Turkey’s human rights abuses need addressing":

1 October 2004 / by Maggie Ronayne

The Turkish government must stamp out the widespread use of torture if it is to be allowed entry into the EU writes Maggie Ronayne.

By all means let us debate Dublin’s uncritical support for Turkey’s application to join the EU, but let us also have the facts.

I have just returned from a two-week fact-finding mission undertaken on behalf of the department of archaeology, NUI, Galway, and the Kurdish Human Rights Project, based in London. I went to investigate the impact which the many large dams planned or built there are having on the environment and cultural heritage of the people.

My brief extended to monitoring the context for those dams and, specifically, whether the reforms to Turkish law on paper were actually being implemented. In my journey through four different Kurdish cities and several towns and villages, I found that while there may be "safeguards" on paper against torture, it continues to be perpetrated.

The very violent forms of torture such as electric shocks, beating on the soles of the feet, cigarette burns, hanging by the arms, rape and other sexual torture, routine for decades, are not now used against everyone, but other forms of torture, physical and psychological, are still systematic and widespread.

These include heavy and repeated beatings on the street and in detention, sleep, food and toilet deprivation, bright lights and noise, isolation cells, blindfolds, threats to rape or kill detainees and their relatives, being forced to stand for long hours or stand up and sit down repeatedly, repeated strip searches. The more violent forms of torture are still used, particularly against Kurdish and other activists, captured guerrillas and those imprisoned
for political offences.

I concentrated on the women’s case - almost always hidden - against the dams and against war in the region. The Kurdish women said: "We know what the women in Iraq are going through." Women in Turkey, and particularly Kurdish women, still face the threat of rape and other sexual torture by state agents. They also face a situation where the security forces know that even if they do not rape women detainees many men in the community will think they have, and the women will be ostracised or threatened. All the more incredible then that women survivors and their women lawyers have spoken out about this torture, gained international attention and managed to force its reduction.

Women, including older Kurdish women from the villages, are strip-searched in public by the security forces as a form of harassment on demonstrations. This is routinely accompanied by racist insults, with female soldiers commenting that they have to wash their hands after touching dirty Kurdish women. The women’s veils are often ripped from their heads. Many of these women have been displaced from their villages with their families since the 1990s by the military; still unable to return, they are struggling for the survival of their families. There is widespread malnutrition and many have no access to clean water or adequate medical care.

Visiting a village raided by the army only 10 days before, I recorded accounts by the women of house contents turned upside down, children and animals distraught and soldiers who sexually insulted and assaulted the women. In at least one respect a recent editorial in The Irish Times on Turkey’s membership of the EU was right about this being European military practice - though it is hardly known outside of the Catholic community in Northern Ireland. Women there will recognise some of these tactics as characteristic of low-intensity warfare, targeting women in order to attack the whole community.

The context for much of this is the renewed war between the state and Kurdish guerillas. I recorded evidence from human rights defenders and villagers of increasing violations and atrocities, including the execution of captured guerrillas and the mutilation of their bodies, their remains left in the street by the army, with relatives too intimidated to take them for burial. The situation close to the border with Iraq is particularly tense, with innumerable checkpoints and forms of harassment. I myself was followed almost constantly by plainclothes and uniformed police and, at one point, followed into my accommodation by members of a special forces team carrying sub-machine-guns.

A lot of nonsense is being written and spoken about cultural differences with Turkey, which is ironic considering that the same commentators would claim the origins of European "civilisation" came from the "ancient Near East". But this kind of talk is a distraction. It is not "cultural" to perpetrate systematic torture against a population, any more than crimes committed in the North of Ireland by the British security forces are somehow characteristic of "British culture".

The women at the receiving end in Turkey provide ample evidence for that country to be refused a date for membership negotiations with the EU until this torture, impunity and the apparatus of enforced poverty and repression that is used against Kurdish people especially is stamped out.

Maggie Ronayne is a lecturer in archaeology at the National University of Ireland, Galway, and co-ordinator of the Global Women’s Strike in Ireland. She is the author of The Ilisu Dam: Displacement of Communities and Destruction of Culture.

The Irish Times Tuesday 28th November, 2004

4. - Reuters - "Report criticises Turkey but talks likely":

BRUSSELS / 2 October 2004 / by Paul Taylor

A European Commission report on Turkey criticises persistent torture and harassment of human rights workers but the EU executive is still set to give the green light next week for Ankara to start membership talks.

The latest regular report on Turkey's progress towards meeting European Union political criteria, obtained by Reuters, notes advances in freedom of speech, minority rights, the rule of law, women's rights and civilian control of the military.

It commends sweeping legislation introduced by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government to align Turkey with EU standards, stamp out torture, improve prison conditions, give Kurds and other minorities cultural rights, modernise the penal code and strip the generals of their political power.

But the report, due on October 6, says implementation has been very patchy on the ground, and hardliners in the judiciary and the security forces continue to resist change.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen, seeking to convince sceptical Germans he is being tough on Ankara, told Bild am Sonntag newspaper the Turks would not be happy with the study, which showed Turkey was not yet "ripe" for membership.

"The report over the state of reforms in Turkey will be extremely critical, much more critical than many observers expect," he was quoted as saying. Turkey, he said "will find it hard to accept everything that we have written".

But EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, in an interview with Germany's Bild newspaper, said the criticism would not prevent the Commission and EU leaders agreeing to start entry talks with Turkey next year.

"If it comes to a positive conclusion, which I expect at the moment, negotiations would start without any delay," he said.

CRITICAL COMMENTS

Among the most critical comments in the report were:

TORTURE:

"Although torture is no longer systematic, numerous cases of torture and in particular ill-treatment still continue to occur and further efforts will be required to eradicate such practice."

FREEDOM OF SPEECH:

"Numerous provisions in different laws can still be interpreted to unduly restrict freedom of expression and prosecutors continue to open criminal proceedings against those expressing non-violent opinion."

"The frequency of prosecutions against journalists is a cause of concern."

"Reports suggest ... human rights defenders, including human rights associations, are still subject to harassment by judicial means."

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM:

"Although freedom of religious belief is guaranteed in the Constitution and freedom of worship is largely unhampered, non-Muslim religious communities continue to experience problems related to legal personality, property rights, training of clergy, schools and internal management."

WOMEN'S RIGHTS:

"On the ground, violence against women remains a serious problem."

MINORITY RIGHTS FOR KURDS:

"While such progress has been significant, there are still considerable restrictions on the exercise of cultural rights, including in the areas of broadcasting and education."

THE MILITARY:

"Although the process of aligning civil-military relations with EU practice is under way, the armed forces in Turkey continue to exercise influence through a series of informal channels."

5. - The New York Times - "European Public Uneasy Over Turkey's Bid to Join Union":

AMSTERDAM / 2 October 2004 / by Elaine Sciolino

There are no minarets at the Ayasofya Mosque in Amsterdam, no marble atrium, no crystal-chandeliered prayer room. The biggest Turkish mosque here operates out of a dark, rusting hulk of a warehouse that was once a car repair and supply service.

It is a place more for meeting than for prayer. It sells subsidized groceries and meals, advertises jobs for pizza makers and factory cleaners, and offers its floors as temporary sleeping space for new migrants. It is, in other words, just the sort of place that makes many Europeans view Turks as truly foreign.

On Wednesday, the 25-member European Union is poised to take a small but important step toward deciding whether Turkey will be the first Muslim country to join its ranks. The organization's executive committee will vote on a report stating that Turkey has reformed itself enough to merit entry talks.

If the committee's recommendation is accepted unanimously by the member nations in December, there will begin a negotiating process that could drag on for a decade or more. Even then, it might not gain Turkey full membership in the union, the world's largest trading bloc.

But just the prospect of admitting a Muslim country of 71 million people - far larger than most members and with a per capita income much lower than any member - has set off a fierce, even ugly, debate over the nature of European identity.

Polls throughout Europe suggest that many share the fear first expressed by former President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing of France that Turkey is not a European country and that Turkish membership would mean "the end of Europe."

A French opinion poll released Tuesday indicated that 56 percent of the French oppose Turkey's membership. President Jacques Chirac said Friday that he would require a national referendum on any future expansion.

While Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of Germany has reacted favorably, a poll released Friday showed 57 percent of his country's population opposed. A poll issued earlier this week stated that 62 percent of Germans wanted the matter to be decided in a referendum.

"There is a deep anti-Turkish feeling in the debate over the E.U.," said Haci Karacaer, the director of Ayasofya. "They say that Turkey is too big, too Islamic, too poor, too undemocratic, too Asian to join Europe."

His words echoed those of Frits Bolkestein, a Dutch member of the European Union's executive committee. Mr. Bolkestein warned in a speech last month that Europe risked becoming "Islamized" if Turkey joined. If that should happen, he added, the battle of Vienna in 1683 when Austrian, German and Polish troops pushed back the Ottoman Turks, would "have been in vain."

Europe, he concluded, "would implode." The fear coincides with a rise in anti-Muslim feeling throughout the continent, fueled in part by the train station bombings in Madrid in March, which Spanish investigators say were carried out by Islamic radicals with ties to Al Qaeda; ongoing arrests of Muslims on terrorist charges across Europe; and recent kidnappings of European civilians by radical Muslim groups in Iraq.

"Even on the soccer field they yell at you and call you 'Turk' or 'dirty foreigner,' " said Yucel Gundogdu, a Dutch-born employment counselor who plays midfield on FC Turkiyemspor, once an all-Turkish amateur soccer team and now the reigning amateur champion in the Netherlands.

For him the European Union's decision is a kind of litmus test for Europe. "If the E.U. refuses Turkey for cultural or religious reasons, then it's racist," he said.

The draft of a 54-page confidential report, which has been leaking out to the European press and is to be voted on by the European Union next week, largely ignores the potential problems posed by Turkey's cultural and religious heritage.

On the contrary, the report states, "Turkey would be an important model of a country with a majority Muslim population adhering to such fundamental principles as liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and the rule of law."

6. - The Times Magazin - "At The Gates Of The Union":

Turkey has worked hard to reform its justice system and improve its human-rights record, all to meet the criteria for European Union membership. But is the E.U. ready to welcome its first Islamic member?

DIYARBAKIR / 3 October 2004 / by Andrew Purvis

The courtship seemed to be going so well. Last month, Turkey rolled out the red carpet for the European Union's outgoing Commissioner for Enlargement, Günter Verheugen, who was on his final swing through the country before his Oct. 6 recommendation on whether Turkey should be invited to start E.U. membership talks. Verheugen seemed to be enjoying his trip immensely: he feasted on stuffed vine leaves and pastry filled with sheep's cheese in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir. He tapped his feet to Kurdish folk dances, met with Christian leaders in Istanbul, and accepted a specially made bracelet: it had 26 glass beads — one for each of the 25 E.U. member states, plus Turkey. Verheugen's pink cheeks beamed from the front page of every newspaper, while posters proclaimed: citizen verheugen! welcome to greater europe!

Nothing spoiled the fun — not an attack by Kurdish militants on a nearby police outpost during his stay, nor even a last-minute hiccup over a Turkish measure that would have criminalized adultery. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who at first supported the adultery proposal to appease conservative allies, agreed to drop it, and last week pushed a 700-page package of penal-code reforms through parliament. "We have worked hard and we have done our homework," a tight-lipped Erdogan told reporters in Brussels. "There is no reason now not to receive a positive answer" from the E.U.

Well, almost none. The prospect of a thumbs-up from Verheugen this week — his recommendation will be voted on by E.U. government leaders at a summit on Dec. 17 — has focused the minds and unstopped the pens of critics around Europe. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, the Vatican's conservative theologian, warned that admitting Muslim Turkey to the E.U. would threaten the Continent's "cultural richness." French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin pointedly asked in the Wall Street Journal: "Do we want the river of Islam to enter the riverbed of secularism?" Austrian E.U. Commissioner for Agriculture Franz Fischler opined that Turkey was culturally "oriental," geographically "Asian" and that accession would open "a geostrategic Pandora's box." Frits Bolkestein, the Dutch E.U. Commissioner for the Internal Market, said that admitting Turkey could mean that the historic defeat of Ottoman armies at the gates of Vienna in 1683 "would have been in vain."

It's not clear what all this sound and fury really signifies. Technically, the E.U. has already agreed to begin talks with Turkey "without delay" if the European Commission finds that it has met the so-called Copenhagen Criteria, the set of political, economic and legal standards spelled out in the Danish capital in June 1993. Verheugen has already indicated there are "no more obstacles" to talks getting started, though his report is expected to contain a "yes, but ..." clause that would allow the E.U. to keep pressure on Turkey to press on with reforms once talks begin. A last-minute public revolt could, theoretically, produce a veto in December; Turkish officials are most worried about France and Austria. But French President Jacques Chirac says he still backs talks and Austria, according to diplomats, is not likely to stand alone. Rejection now, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told TIME, would seriously damage Europe's credibility and "fuel hostility toward Europe across the Islamic world." Still, the dire warnings have stoked disenchantment in Western Europe — and forced Turks to explain themselves — again. "We are not talking about being full members now," said Gul. "We are just talking about negotiations. And these will take time. We are realistic. It will take years."

The Turks, in any case, have accomplished plenty already. A full 40 years after applying for E.U. membership, the ruling party in Ankara has passed more than 40 laws and over 300 articles to bring Turkish legislation and government structures in line with European norms. The death penalty has been abolished, press restrictions have been lifted, and the overweening power of the country's military has been at least partly ratcheted back — a civilian now heads the country's powerful National Security Council. The government has tightened fiscal policy, reformed banking laws and helped bring inflation near 10%. While Turkish poverty remains a worry, an impact assessment published last week by the European Commission found that both Turkey and the E.U. stood to gain economically from accession.

Ironically, the failed adultery amendment was part of a reform package that has boosted women's rights, recognizing them as joint heads of households and splitting couples' assets equally after a divorce. Even Nebahat Akkoc, head of the leading women's center Ka-Mer (and a TIME European Hero in 2003), is impressed: "I spent my life fighting for these laws and suddenly they are on the books." She adds, however, that changing the law is not enough: they must now be implemented.

The changes are most pronounced in the troubled southeast. Kurds who were once jailed for listening to Kurdish songs can now attend Kurdish language courses and watch Kurdish TV. Turkish security forces have limited their crackdown after Kurdish militants called off a cease-fire in June. And the promise of democratic reform has helped undermine the rebels' justification for violence. "Turkey has made more progress in the past two years than in its 80-year history," argues Selahattin Demirtas, head of the Human Rights Association in Diyarbakir, which in the past has sharply criticized government abuses.

It's ironic that these successes are thanks largely to the efforts of a conservative, pro-Islamic government. Erdogan was jailed in 1998 for violating Turkey's ban on the mixing of religion with politics — he recited a poem that compared minarets to bayonets — but it was that experience, aides say, that convinced him that his party's political survival depended on European guarantees of freedom of expression. As a conservative Muslim, he was well placed to bring traditionalists with him, notes a Turkish diplomat: "It was Nixon who went to China."

Rapid reform, however, has done little to impress the opponents of Turkish accession, who focus on emotionally powerful issues like Europe's historically Chris-tian identity. In the latest French poll, 56% of respondents say they oppose Turkish accession "in principle." But in the same poll, 63% said that they could "imagine" Turkey entering if the right reforms were carried out — which is exactly what the E.U. is now requiring of Turkey. Elsewhere, opposition to Turkish entry remains high. In the Netherlands, 41% are against while 21% are in favor; in Germany, the figures are 46% and 45%. In a new TIME/CNN poll, 52% of those surveyed in Britain, France and Germany say they oppose Turkish entry, while 39% favor it. Turkey in the E.U.? Dutch M.P. Geert Wilders says simply: "Never! Turkey is an Islamic country and doesn't belong in the E.U. I'd sooner let Australia or Canada join."

What opponents are not talking about are the consequences if the E.U. says no. Reform could come to an end as the unity inspired by the membership drive evaporates. Some fear radical elements throughout the Middle East would take the rejection as proof that the West doesn't want to co-exist with Islam. Writing in the current issue of Foreign Affairs, David Phillips of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations warns that a no would turn Turkey into "a hotbed of anti-Americanism and extremism" while a yes would raise "a firewall against terrorism." That may be overstating the case, but the past two years have demonstrated convincingly that the promise of partnership with the West is a powerful — and peaceful — inducement for democratic change in an Islamic country. That's a rare accomplishment in today's world. It would be rarer still if it lasts.

7. - DAWN - "Rallies in northern Iraq: Kurds call for vote on autonomy":

SULAIMANIYA / 2 October 2004

Tens of thousands of Kurds demonstrated in towns across Kurdish northern Iraq on Saturday, demanding a referendum on their autonomy and calling for the oil-rich city of Kirkuk to be made their capital.

In Sulaimaniya, in northeastern Iraq, organizers said between 60,000 and 70,000 people converged on the local government headquarters, many carrying banners declaring that Kirkuk, a contested city outside of the Kurdish region, should be theirs.

Banners also called for the two main Kurdish parties, the PUK and the KDP, which have been rivals over decades, to unite and present a stronger Kurdish challenge for independence.

The move appears to be part of efforts to build a united front before elections due to be held in January when Kurds will have a chance to vote not only in Kurdish regional elections but in a national poll for an Iraqi National Assembly.

As well as in Sulaimaniya, smaller demonstrations were held in the northern Kurdish town of Dohuk, and another was planned in Arbil, capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, which comprises three of Iraq's 18 governorates.

In Kirkuk itself, a tense city which has seen instability over the past year as rival peoples - Arabs, Kurds and Turkish-speaking Turkmen - have fought to impose their dominance, about 2,000 Kurds held a related demonstration.

In Sulaimaniya, several protesters carried banners reading: "Kurdistan means nothing without Kirkuk". The thrust of the protest, however, was for a referendum for Kurds to determine their political status within Iraq.

Kurds, who make up about 20 percent of Iraq's population, have had effective autonomy in Kurdistan since the 1991 invasion, but have been pushing for further independence since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

Kirkuk, a city of one million people, has been tense for well over a year, but the situation has worsened in the run-up to the elections. Some analysts fear the issue of Kirkuk could provoke civil war.

The call for Kirkuk to be made the capital of an autonomous Kurdistan is also particularly sensitive for Iraq's central government - if Kirkuk is made the capital then Kurds might also call for Kirkuk's huge oil revenues to be directed only to them.

SAMARRA SUFFERING: Iraq's leading Sunni religious group on Saturday said the government was responsible for the bloodshed in Samarra, where more than 100 people have died in a US offensive to retake the city from guerillas.

"We throw on the government the responsibility for the injustices suffered by the inhabitants of the city of Samarra," the Committee of Muslim Scholars said in a statement.

"The campaign carried out by the occupying forces with the government's approval is the last in a series of aggressions against the city under the pretext of rebuilding security.

"Resorting to iron and fire to prepare for elections is a flawed method," it said, referring to government pledges to mop up all insurgent-held enclaves in time for nationwide elections promised for January.

Almost 3,000 US soldiers, backed by about 2,000 Iraqi troops, stormed into Samarra, north of Baghdad, at dawn on Friday in a bid to recapture the city from guerrillas, who had controlled it since June.

8. - AFP - "Turkey resolves dilemma over customs union with Cyprus":

ANKARA / 2 October 2004

Turkey said Saturday it has resolved the conundrum caused by a lack of diplomatic ties with Cyprus which was preventing the
smooth functioning of a nine-year-old customs union with the European Union.

But Ankara insisted in a statement that the decision to amend legislation to include Cyprus in the customs union with the EU did not amount to a recognition of the divided Mediterranean island's Greek Cypriot south.

"In view of the accession of 10 new member states to the EU on May 1, the Turkish government has decided to include all new EU members in the scope of" the customs union, the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

"The amendment of our internal legislation does not imply in any way the recognition of the Greek Cypriot administration by Turkey," the statement said.

Turkey, which is not an EU member, entered into a customs union with the EU in 1995.

Cyprus, which joined the EU on May 1 along with nine other countries, has so far been excluded from participation in the overall EU customs union with Turkey because it has no formal diplomatic ties with Ankara.

Ankara's change of heart came after European Commission warnings that Turkey had to resolve the issue, and the only way was to include Cyprus in the customs union.

The Turkish statement insisted that it would continue to pursue its "special relationship" with the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in the north of the island, which is recognised only by Ankara.

It also called on Brussels to enact a series of promised measures to lift the international isolation of the TRNC in return for the strong support Turkish Cypriots gave to a UN reunification plan.

The plan was killed off when the Greek Cypriots overwhelmingly voted down the plan. As a result, only the Greek Cypriot side became an EU member, while the TRNC was left out.

"Turkey wishes to stress once more that it is due time to stop imposing on the Turkish side, which has demonstrated clearly its will for a solution, restrictions it does not in any way deserve," the ministry statement said.

Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat echoed the call in a press conference in the Turkish-held part of Cypriot capital Nicosia.

"This (the inclusion of Cyprus in the customs union) will have serious effects on the Turkish Cypriot people because the Cyprus dispute remains unresolved," Talat said.

"What the Europen Council needs to do is to find ways to enact the measures," he added.

Among the envisaged measures is 259 million euros in economic aid and allowing direct trade between the EU and the TRNC under special conditions.

But a final decision on the measures, which include 259 million euros in economic aid, has been postponed following objections by the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot side.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey occupied the north in response to a Greek Cypriot coup in Nicosia aimed at uniting the island with Greece.