The E.U. initially decided to end the isolation of Turkish Cyprus, to balance the accession of Cyprus. But the E.U. has not carried through on its promise.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
It is unfair to ask Turkey to make a unilateral concession to take goods from Cyprus within the customs union when the E.U. is not open to northern Cyprus.
We've stated very clearly that no negotiating chapters between the European Union and Turkey will be concluded before the Ankara Protocol is complied with: that's to say before Turkey grants all E.U. member states, including Cyprus, access to its ports.
The E.U. is more than just a trade organization or a common market; it is a guarantee of democracy, freedom, justice, and human rights. Nations cannot stay in the E.U. if they do not respect these guarantees.
The E.U. is an organization that was created after the Second World War for calming down the nationalism of member states, and it did so very successfully.
Regardless of our ambitions to become part of the E.U., we have to keep in mind that Turkey is also a very strong voice that can represent the needs of our region in wider terms in global platforms.
There must be no attempts to remain inside the E.U., no attempts to rejoin it through the back door, and no second referendum.
The E.U. cannot act as guardian of the post-Cold War status quo without risking a collapse of Europe's current institutional infrastructure.
Turkey has a young and growing population. Until recently, this was perceived as a problem, a burden that Turkey would bring to the E.U. But it is, in fact, an asset that can help the population deficit of the E.U. and the economic growth of Turkey.
The E.U. is the latest of a series of multinational organizations set up after World War II to ensure that there would never again be a pan-European war and to create the conditions for a new European prosperity after the destruction wrought by the war against the Nazis. The E.U. has admirably succeeded at both.
Leaving the E.U. would mean the 'Guernseyfication' of the U.K., which would then be a little country on the world scale. It would isolate itself and become a trading post and arbitration place at Europe's border.