Chief EU negotiator Bagis urges Greek Cyprus to work for settlement

State Minister and Chief Negotiator for European Union membership talks Egemen Bagis yesterday called on Greek Cyprus to work sincerely to reach an agreement with Turkish Cyprus for reunification of the island. "We expect that the Greek Cypriot administration will quit dabbling with vessel trafficking schedules and concentrate on taking honest steps with its counterpart towards a solution," Bagis told reporters in Washington, where he was accompanying Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on an official visit, referring to an EU foreign ministers resolution on Tuesday expressing regret over Turkey's refusal to open its ports to Greek Cypriot vessels. In a resolution, EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels for a General Affairs council meeting said Turkey had made no progress towards normalization of relations with the Greek Cypriot administration, saying they would check the situation again next year. "On this basis, the council will continue to closely follow and review progress made. Progress is now expected without further delay," said the resolution. "The Cyprus problem cannot be solved by simply letting [Greek Cypriot] vessels into Turkish ports," Bagis said. "Time is running out fast. It is up to the Greek Cypriot administration to choose between settlement and deadlock." He said the council's resolution in general reaffirmed Turkey's accession bid proceeding without any interruption. "We welcome efforts by almost all EU members and their common sense to pass the resolution as it is, which is in Turkey's favor. I would especially like to thank the Swedish term presidency in this context," Bagis said. In related news, speaking in Washington, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu criticized what he called unfair treatment of Turkey's EU accession bid, and said that it is the EU which is seeing an axis shift in its policies, not Turkey. Davutoglu also reiterated Turkey's criticism of Israel's Gaza offensive, saying, "Israel used phosphorus bombs in Gaza, and this is a criminal act."