At summit, EU to push for stronger foreign policy cooperation with Turkey

Foreign ministers of 27 European Union member countries convened in Brussels yesterday for a preliminary meeting ahead of Thursday's summit of EU heads of state focusing on enlargement. Top EU diplomats are reportedly set to accept a final declaration today calling for the EU and Turkey to join forces on foreign policy through stronger political dialogue between Ankara and Brussels. The draft for the final declaration of Thursday's summit reportedly underlines Turkey's rising clout in its region, saying, "Turkey has become a more active player as an important regional power in ensuring security in its wider surroundings from the Middle East to the Balkans, from the South Caucasus to Afghanistan and Pakistan. We support the idea that Turkey should continue to develop its foreign policy in cooperation with the EU and as a complementary one. Through acting together, Turkey and the EU can strengthen energy supply security, as well as can eliminate regional conflicts and ethnic and religious divisions. Within this framework, we're ready to speed up dialogue with Turkey as part of a foreign policy serving common interests." Urging the widest consensus possible in future constitutional changes in Turkey, the declaration reportedly also warns that if Turkey doesn't review its decision not to open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot traffic, political obstacles on its accession talks will remain. It also suggests appealing to the International Court of Justice to solve issues between Turkey and Greece if necessary. In a related story, it is now certain that accession talks on competition policy won't be opened during Belgium's EU term presidency, set to conclude this month.