CONTENTS
I. RELATIONS WITH EUROPEAN STATES AND THE EUROPEAN UNION
II. CYPRUS ISSUE
III. RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED STATES IV. RELATIONS WITH MIDDLE EAST AND
NORTHERN IRAQ QUESTION
V. RELATIONS WITH CAUCASIAN, CENTRAL ASIAN STATES AND RUSSIA
VI. OTHERS AND DOMESTIC ISSUES
I. RELATIONS WITH EUROPEAN STATES AND THE EUROPEAN UNION
January 02 Joost Lagendijk, a senior European Union Parliament member
into whom Turkish prosecutors launched a probe to determine whether he should be prosecuted for insulting Turkey's armed forces, held out hope that Turkey in 2006 will demonstrate that it is a modern and European country.
January 06 A court on the eastern Greek island of Samos has sentenced a
Turkish man to six years and a month in prison for attempting to smuggle immigrants into Greece.
January 10 Austrian President Heinz Fischer said good relations existed
between Turkey and Austria and that he was ready to help the newly appointed Turkish ambassador towards the continuity of friendly ties between the two countries.
'Prepared by Research Assistant Nuri Yesilyurt, Faculty of Political Science, Ankara University.
January 10 Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, whose country took
over the presidency of the European Union on Jan. 1, said that the door remains open to Ankara but warned that Turkey's accession talks will be tough.
January 14 French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, a presidential hopeful
for next year's elections, suggested a strategic partnership between the European Union and candidate Turkey.
January 14 The European Union's top enlargement official Olli Rehn warned
Ankara over its reform efforts and said it should resolve persistent problems in the areas of freedoms and human rights without delay.
January 16 Erhard Busek, special coordinator of the Stability Pact for
Southeastern Europe, said Balkan countries would integrate into the European Union before Turkey.
January 17 A Turkish-language newspaper considered to be a mouthpiece of
the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Germany has re-started publication after a German court decision last year to lift a government ban on the newspaper, saying there were not enough grounds to justify the ban.
January 18 Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, whose country is
currently holding the European Union term presidency, has assured that Austria will fulfil its commitments concerning Turkey's EU process without prejudice.
January 18 Despite admitting that Ankara has not yet totally fulfilled the
European Union's political criteria, Turkish State Minister Ali Babacan has asserted, in response to criticism levelled by EU officials towards reforms in Turkey, that the EU process is now one of no return for the country.
January 18 Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev had talks with Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the first day of a state visit aimed at exploring bilateral ties.
January 19 Romano Prodi, former head of the European Commission, said it
was not possible to deny hundreds of years of differences between Turkey and Europe.
January 19 Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel said that the European
Union could start actual membership negotiations with Turkey in the first half of 2006.
January 20 French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has asserted that
the European Union cannot go on expanding indefinitely while warning the bloc to "carefully review Turkey's application to join at every stage of negotiations."
January 24 Turkish and European Commission officials gathered in Brussels
legislation for two chapters of the EU acquis, those of agriculture and rural development, and justice, freedom and security.
January 25 Turkey has demanded a symbolic 1 euro in compensation for
losses sustained, in the Belgium trial of Fehriye Erdal and 10 other suspects from the terrorist Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C).
January 25 The EU Council has adopted a decision on the principles,
priorities and conditions contained in the Accession Partnership with Turkey. The revised Accession Partnership was approved on the basis of a political agreement reached by EU foreign ministers in December.
January 26 The European Union welcomed a Turkish court's decision to
dismiss a case against prominent novelist Orhan Pamuk, said a statement from the Austrian Presidency on behalf of the EU.
January 26 Turkey and Croatia should enter detailed membership
negotiations with the European Union this spring, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said.
January 27 The Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament
unanimously adopted an enlargement strategy report that blocks the way for a possible offer of privileged partnership for candidate Turkey.
January 28 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a European
Union protocol extending Turkey's customs union deal with the bloc to 10 new members would not be approved by Parliament.
January 30 The decision on opening European Union accession negotiations
with Turkey without asking the public's opinion was a mistake, according to European Parliament President Josep Borrell.
January 30 Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister George Iacovou has cautioned
that the Greek Cypriot administration might veto Turkey's membership negotiations with the European Union.
February 01 Turkish and European Commission officials met in Brussels to
hold a two-day exploratory session on the screening of Turkish legislation in the field of customs union.
February 02 Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu lent his
country's support to Turkey's efforts to join the European Union and win a temporary seat on the UN Security Council during a visit to Ankara.
February 03 Athens has claimed that Turkish aircraft violated Greece's
February 05 Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah GUI denounced the
publication of irreverent cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed as provocation and urged an end to international tensions over the drawings.
February 07 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission held an
exploratory session in Brussels for the screening of Turkish legislation on intellectual property rights.
February 07 In a joint Muslim-Christian appeal for calm, Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Spanish counterpart, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, said all sides would lose if mounting tension sparked by publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in European newspapers is not immediately defused.
February 08 Moldovan Foreign Minister Andrei Stratan arrived in Turkey for
talks expected to focus on bilateral relations along with regional and international developments.
February 09 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission held an
exploratory session in Brussels for the screening of Turkish legislation on social policy and employment.
February 09 An official invitation by Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer
to Pope Benedict XVI to visit Turkey between Nov. 28 and Dec. 1 of this year has been conveyed to the head of the Vatican via diplomatic means.
February 10 Pope Benedict XVI has formally accepted an official invitation
by Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer to make a historic visit to Turkey.
February 14 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission held a
detailed screening session on justice, freedom and security, one of 35 chapters on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
February 17 Cyril Svoboda, foreign minister of European Union newcomer
Czech Republic, extended support to Turkey's EU aspirations but said that the negotiating process would be complicated and tough, the same as what his country went through.
February 20 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission held a
detailed session in Brussels for the screening of Turkish legislation on the free movement of goods, one of 35 chapters on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
February 24 Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Giiler
said on the first day of a visit in Spain that Turkey would be in close cooperation with Madrid on energy matters in the near future.
February 27 The newly appointed Greek foreign minister, Dora Bakoyannis,
said that Athens policy of supporting Turkey's possible European Union membership continued but warned that this support was not unconditional.
March 01 A Belgian court sentenced Fehriye Erdal to four years'
imprisonment for crimes committed in Belgium.
March 03 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission held a
detailed session in Brussels for the screening of Turkish legislation on the intellectual property law, one of 35 chapters on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
March 04 Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah GUI, who is in Spain for an
official visit, held an unscheduled meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
March 07 Turkey should speed up its reform efforts to join the European
Union if it wants to join the 25-nation bloc at the earliest possible date, the top EU representative in Turkey said.
March 14 Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said Turkey needed to
fulfil a number of requirements before joining the European Union and emphasized that Ankara needed to implement a customs union protocol by opening its ports and airports to ships and planes from EU member Greek Cyprus in 2006.
March 17 The Turkish government dismissed any linkage between political
criteria for membership in the European Union and planned negotiations with the 25-nation bloc on the chapter of education and culture.
March 17 Bulgarian Defense Minister Vesselin Bliznakov and a delegation
accompanying him during a three-day visit to Turkey at the invitation of his Turkish counterpart, Vecdi Goniil, met with Turkish Parliament Speaker Biilent Anne.
March 17 The European Parliament has asserted that fulfilment of political
criteria by Ankara in the short term should be a prime condition in membership negotiations between the European Union and Turkey.
March 21 Ambassador Hansjoerg Kretschmer, head of the European Union
Commission Delegation to Turkey, said Turkey was still "quite a long distance away from complete fulfilment of political criteria" for membership in the EU but added that there was no reform fatigue plaguing the government.
March 23 French Ambassador to Turkey Paul Poudade praised the reforms
implemented by the Turkish government but warned that there had been a slowdown in their pace.
March 27 The vice-president of the European Investment Bank, Wolfgang
Roth, expressed his belief that Turkey would become a full member of the European Union by 2015.
March 27 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission held an
exploratory session for screening of Turkish legislation on enterprise and industrial policy, one of the 35 chapters on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
March 29 Relations between the European Union and Turkey will face
turbulence later this year over Cyprus and it will take deft diplomacy to avoid a "train crash," EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said.
March 30 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission held an
exploratory session for the screening of Turkish legislation on financial services, one of the 35 chapters on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
April 01 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission held a detailed
session for the screening of Turkish legislation on financial services, one of the 35 chapters on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
April 03 Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah GUI has personally contacted
both Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and his Danish counterpart, Per Stig Moeller, as part of a fresh bid by Ankara to get the Copenhagen-based Roj TV, which Turkey says provoked deadly clashes in southeastern Anatolia, closed down.
April 06 Italian Ambassador in Ankara Carlo Marsili highlighted the
economic difficulties plaguing Turkey's impoverished East and Southeast and said steps to correct economic imbalances would improve overall stability.
April 07 European Parliament's Turkey Rapporteur Camiel Eurlings said that
Democratic Society Party (DTP) officials and Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir should condemn the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
April 07 The top representative of the European Union in Turkey has
explicitly expressed his uneasiness over the implementation of judicial reforms in Turkey, saying that cases were being filed without any respect for freedom of expression.
April 11 The president of the Strasbourg-based Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe (PACE) said that the provocations of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were a reason for the recent deadly violence in southeastern Turkey last week.
April 11 Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer met with Bosnia's
political relations between the two countries and cooperation on their possible admission to the European Union.
April 13 Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah GUI determinedly rejected
criticism from both the domestic public and EU capitals that the Turkish government has been plagued by "reform fatigue."
April 14 Claudia Roth, co-chairperson of the German Union 90/Greens Party,
claimed that the dynamic approach shown by the Turkish government at the beginning of its reform process now seems to be lost.
April 14 Danish Ambassador to Turkey Christian Hoppe said that the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was a terrorist organization and vowed to cooperate with Turkey and other countries to fight terrorism.
April 18 In response to a written inquiry from an opposition deputy, Turkish
Foreign Minister Abdullah GUI said the European Commission recommends granting 500 million euros in financial assistance to Turkey in 2006.
April 18 Greek Foreign Minister, Dora Bakoyannis, said her country supports
Turkey's bid to join the European Union but claimed that Turkey was pursuing contradictory policies regarding its relations with the 25-nation bloc.
April 20 A senior Turkish diplomat said that no problem remains with regard
to the financial assistance provided by the European Union under the pre-accession framework and emphasized that efforts were under way to reinforce the institutions in charge of the tendering, contracting and implementation of the bloc's funds according to EU financial regulations.
April 22 German state governor Edmund Stoiber has asserted that the
European Union should carefully consider whether it is able to accept any new members while also saying that although relations between the union and Turkey were friendly, it could not be considered a European country.
April 25 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission started talks
for the detailed screening over food safety and veterinary and phytosanitary policy, one of 35 chapters on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
April 29 Turkey is not eligible yet to start actual talks on two of the 35
negotiating chapters with the European Union, the bloc's executive arm, the European Commission has said, citing insufficient technical preparations on the part of Turkey.
May 03 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission started talks for
the detailed screening on financial services, one of 35 chapters on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
May 04 Turkey warned France that bilateral ties could suffer if the French parliament adopts a bill that would criminalize any denial of the alleged Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire last century.
May 04 Joost Lagendijk, head of the Turkey-European Union Joint
Parliamentary Committee, claimed that the country has not taken any positive steps on a number of issues including the Kurdish problem, freedom of expression and the decades-old Cyprus issue within this period.
May 05 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission started talks for the detailed screening on enterprise and industrial policy, one of 35 chapters on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
May 06 Roj TV, a Denmark-based television station that Turkey says is a mouthpiece for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party has started broadcasting in Sweden via a cable television network.
May 08 Turkey's embassy in Stockholm has asked Swedish Foreign Ministry officials for information on the broadcasts of a Denmark-based television station that Turkey says is a mouthpiece for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Sweden via a cable television network.
May 09 Following separate warnings issued to Canada and France that recent developments in the two countries concerning their recognition of an alleged Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire last century could harm bilateral relations, Turkey has recalled its ambassadors from Paris and Ottawa for "a short time" for consultations over "baseless allegations" made about the alleged genocide.
May 10 The European Union expressed concerns over the slowing reform pace in Turkey and a government-backed antiterrorism bill that critics say could reverse EU-inspired efforts to improve freedoms and human rights.
May 10 Former Portuguese President Mario Soares said that if Turkey were a Christian country, it would be undergoing a different kind of European Union process.
May 11 The Bulgarian parliament, during a vote, rejected a resolution
recognizing the alleged Armenian genocide at the hands of the late Ottoman Empire in the last century.
May 12 Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel said if no difficulty arises,
actual accession talks with Turkey are expected to open on two chapters, science and research and education and culture, before his country's rotating term presidency ends.
May 13 Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah GUI said the unveiling of a
memorial to what the Greeks claim was a genocide against Pontus Greeks in the early 20th century had cast a shadow over relations with neighbouring Greece but voiced hope that France, whose Parliament will start debating a controversial bill to penalize denial of the alleged Armenian genocide, will not pass the bill.
May 15 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened France
with trade sanctions if it adopts a bill criminalizing any denial of an alleged genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in the last century
May 16 Top Greek leaders have joined in commemorations for Anatolian
Greeks whom Athens claims were victims of a genocide at the beginning of the last century.
May 17 The first independent non-commercial Kurdish television station,
Rojhelat TV, said it had started broadcasting to the Middle East via satellite from an undisclosed location near Stockholm.
May 18 Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said that Turkey must
implement an additional protocol extending its customs deal to the 10 newest members of the European Union including Greek Cyprus.
May 18 Greek President Karolos Papoulias said that Turkey faces serious
problems during its negotiations with the European Union on eventual membership.
May 19 A delegation from Turkish Parliament's investigative commission on
honour killings arrived in Berlin for talks with German officials.
May 24 Turkish and Greek F-16 jet fighters collided mid-air after Turkish
planes on a training flight were intercepted by Greek aircraft over the Aegean Sea.
May 27 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with German
Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, receiving assurances from the conservative leader that her government is committed to Turkey's accession talks with the European Union despite critical opinion within her party.
May 30 Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said that Turkey would
face a 'big problem' if it did not open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus as part of a deal with the European Union.
May 30 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission started talks on
detailed screening in the area of environment, one of the most challenging and comprehensive chapters on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
May 30 A Turkey-EU Association Council meeting in Luxembourg in
Turkey on the first of 35 policy areas, Turkish Foreign Ministry officials in Ankara told.
May 31 Turkish and Greek military boats countered each other in a stand-off near a small disputed island of Kardak.
June 01 Turkey has granted nearly $2 million worth of equipment to the
Macedonian army.
June 06 Eckart Cuntz, the newly appointed German ambassador to Turkey,
suggested the opening of a German consulate in the central Anatolian province of Kayseri.
June 07 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission started
exploratory talks for the screening of Turkish legislation on taxation, one of the 35 policy areas on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
June 09 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission started
exploratory talks for screening of Turkish legislation on consumer and health protection, one of the 35 policy areas on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
June 10 Romania's Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu has lent support
to Turkey's European Union membership process, saying that Turkey and the bloc have had "a common future."
June 11 Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis and her Turkish
counterpart Abdullah GUI launched a set of measures designed to boost confidence among the people of the two countries and help tackle their territorial disputes in the Aegean. The measures included the establishment of a direct telephone line between military chiefs of staff of the two countries; extension by a month of a moratorium on military exercises in the Aegean, including the moratorium on military drills from June 15 to Sept. 15 instead of June 1 to Sept. 1; and mutual visits and regular contacts between the commanders of the coastal guard forces of the two countries. The two foreign ministers also finalized an agreement to operationalize a hotline between the operational headquarters of the two countries' air forces, located in Eskisehir, Turkey, and Larissa, Greece.
June 13 Turkish Parliament Speaker Biilent Anne expressed Turkey's support
for Albania's possible NATO membership. Ann? had talks in Tirana with Albanian President Alfred Moisiu, who asked for Turkey's support for Albania's aspirations to join NATO.
June 13 Turkey announced that it had recognized Montenegro as an
June 14 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with his
Macedonian counterpart, Vlado Buckovski, for talks on enhancing cooperation between Turkey and Macedonia in the economic field.
June 15 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission started talks for
the detailed screening on energy, one of 35 chapters on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
June 17 While both the European Union and Turkey have started sharply
expressing their resolve on the issue of Turkey opening its ports and airports to Greek Cyprus, an EU summit in Brussels issued a clear warning for Turkey on the same issue. The EU leaders reminded Turkey that it must normalize relations with Greek Cyprus, which it doesn't recognize, or risk delaying its entry talks with the bloc, which are expected to last at least a decade.
June 17 Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan says ports and airports will
not be opened to traffic from Greek Cyprus, even if this means a halt in EU talks. The EU responds by saying this would risk stalling the talks.
June 19 Parliamentary Harmonization Commission head Ya§ar Yakis, has
expressed Turkey's desire to cooperate with Greece for a resolution of problems encountered by the Turkish minority living in Western Thrace.
June 20 Athens has dismissed comments by a senior Turkish parliamentarian
Ya§ar Yakis during a visit to Western Thrace, where a Turkish minority lives, that its members should seek European arbitration over complaints with the Greek state.
June 20 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission started
exploratory talks for the screening of Turkish legislation on statistics, one of the 35 policy areas on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
June 22Officials from Turkey and the European Commission held exploratory
talks in Brussels for the screening of Turkish legislation on company law, one of the 35 policy areas on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
June 27 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission started
exploratory talks for the screening of Turkish legislation on transport policy, one of the 35 policy areas on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
June 27 Finland's President Tarja Halonen, whose country will take over the
European Union's term presidency next month, said it was likely that Turkey's road to fulfilling the criteria for EU membership would be "rockier" than that of other candidate countries because of "many problems and many questions."
June 28 Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said Turkey should fulfil
its obligations toward the European Union, claiming that it would be in Turkey's interest to open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus.
July 04 European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso warned
Turkey over Cyprus, saying that lack of progress could lead to serious problems in its accession talks process later this year, as the bloc's top officials signalled attention shifting to efforts to resolve the deep-seated Cyprus problem as a way of avoiding a crisis in ties with Turkey.
July 04 Turkish and Macedonian officials signed an accord in Skopje, which
will allow Turkey to provide Macedonia with military equipment worth YTL 1.19 million.
July 05 A Vatican cardinal said a knife attack on a Roman Catholic priest in
Turkey showed that the European Union candidate country was not yet ready for integration with Europe.
July 07 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission started talks for
the detailed screening on consumer and health protection, one of the 35 policy areas on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
July 12 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission started talks for
the detailed screening on taxation, one of the 35 policy areas on which Turkey and the European Commission will hold accession talks.
July 18 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission started talks for
the detailed screening of Turkish legislation on statistics, one of the 35 policy areas on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
July 19 Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah GUI had talks on terrorism with
his British counterpart, Margaret Beckett.
July 20 The British government has submitted a draft resolution to Parliament
naming affiliates of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) as terrorist groups, said a written statement released by the British Embassy in Ankara.
July 20 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission held
exploratory talks for the screening of Turkish legislation on freedom of movement for workers, one of the 35 chapters on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
July 21 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission held talks for
the detailed screening of Turkish legislation in the area of company law, one of the 35 chapters on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
July 26 Hungary urges Turkey to improve the rights of its people of Kurdish
origin, taking Hungary's laws as an example, Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom said after meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, in Budapest.
July 27 Greek Chief of Staff Adm. Panayiotis Hinofotis arrived in Turkey for
talks with his Turkish counterpart, Gen. Hilmi Ozkok, expected to centre on building confidence between the two neighbouring countries.
August 03 Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel expressed disbelief that
Turkey's negotiations with the European Union would end in full membership.
August 11 Finland's Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja had talks with his
Turkish counterpart, Abdullah GUI, to discuss efforts for finding a solution to the crisis in Lebanon.
August 15 Bosnia and Turkey signed a military cooperation accord that
enables the former Yugoslav republic to use a NATO anti terror training base, said Turkish Defence Ministry.
August 26 In a sign of strict anti-terror measures, Britain declared 'outlawed'
the Kurdistan Workers' Party and its affiliates including the Kongra-Gel, KADEK and TAK.
August 31 Jose Manuel Barroso, head of the European Commission, said that
Turkey's accession to the European Union would prevent instability in the Middle East from spreading to Europe.
September 04 Members of the European Parliament are set to debate a highly
critical report on the slow pace of EU reforms in Turkey, while Turkey's chief EU negotiator, Ali Babacan, prepares for an upcoming tour of European capitals.
September 07 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission held
exploratory talks for the screening of Turkish legislation on financial and budgetary provisions, one of the 35 chapters on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
September 08 In a bid to overcome obstacles standing in the way of Turkey's
EU membership process, Germany will be working together with Turkey, visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
September 09 French Interior Minister Nicholas Sarkozy called for the
suspension of Turkey's membership talks with the European Union unless Ankara changes its stance on Cyprus.
September 09 Turkish State Minister Ali Babacan, Turkey's chief negotiator
for European Union talks, reiterated Turkey's refusal to open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus unless sanctions imposed on the Turkish Cypriots are eased.
September 09 Turkish Justice Minister Cemil CJcek and his Portuguese
counterpart, Alberto Costa, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on mutual cooperation between the justice ministries of the two countries, the Turkish Justice Ministry announced.
September 12 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission started
exploratory talks for the screening of Turkish legislation on regional policy and coordination of structural instruments, on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
September 15 Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah GUI suggested that France
participate in a joint committee of Turkish and Armenian experts to study allegations of an Armenian genocide at the hands of the late Ottoman Empire.
September 15 Turkish parliamentarians are having talks in Brussels in a
move for amendments to the European Parliament's strong-worded report prior to a final vote in the General Assembly.
September 15 Turkish and European Union officials met in Brussels for an
exploratory screening session on the bloc's common foreign and security policy, the last one of the 35 chapters to undergo an exploratory screening.
September 15 Germany's ruling Christian Democrats favour privileged
partnership for European Union candidate Turkey, rather than full membership, but will not block Ankara's entry talks with the bloc since it respects the existing agreements, Chancellor Angela Merkel said.
September 18 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned
neighbouring Greece to respect the right of its Muslim minority to elect its own religious leader or face reciprocal measures from Ankara.
September 19 Greece has rebuffed Turkish claims that Athens is violating the
rights of the Muslim minority living along its northeastern border, telling Ankara that it should instead concentrate on human rights reforms at home.
September 19 Turkey has harshly criticized the Netherlands for refusing to
extradite a wanted top leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), slamming what it called inadequate international cooperation against terrorism.
September 22 Turkey's accession bid to the European Union is an "enormous
problem" for the wealthy Western bloc and should take place only after long negotiations, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said.
September 22 The European Union would be making a mistake in the
long-term if it thwarted Turkey's aspirations to join the bloc, Romanian President Traian Basescu said.
September 22 The Kosovo parliament approved a proposal to make Turkish
one of the official languages in the region.
September 23 The top representative of the European Union in Turkey
Hansjoerg Kretschmer focused on the controversial role of the Turkish military in politics, with harsh remarks criticizing security organs for having "played their own games outside the control of the civilian authorities, disrespecting the legal and institutional order."
September 25 Greece and Turkey have successfully carried out their first
non-NATO joint military operation, Greek military sources said.
September 26 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission started
talks for the detailed screening of Turkish legislation in the area of transport policy, one of the 35 policy areas on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
September 28 The European Parliament warned Turkey in a non-binding
report that it must speed up far-reaching reforms if it wanted to become a member of the European Union.
September 28 Once Turkey meets the European Union's accession
conditions, the wealthy Western bloc should grant it full membership, Greece's Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said.
September 29 Turkey called on Greek authorities to stop the practice of
dumping migrants in Turkish waters following an incident in which six illegal migrants drowned and three are still missing.
September 29 Turkey expressed dissatisfaction with the European
Parliament's critical Turkey report but appreciated European parliamentarians' efforts to prevent any damage to Turkish-European Union relations by deleting certain controversial clauses.
September 29 European Union term president Finland's prime minister, Matti
Vanhanen, has described opening accession negotiations with Turkey "as a major achievement during the EU Presidency" less than a year ago. "The Finnish Presidency is actively working to reach a solution that would enable direct trade between the EU and northern Cyprus. Our aim is a solution that would also ensure that Turkey proceeds with the opening of ports to [Greek] Cypriot vessels. A positive outcome would help us avert difficulties with Turkey's EU accession negotiations," Vanhanen told a conference held at the Finnish Parliament.
September 30 German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Berlin was "a
reliable partner" for Turkey and vowed her government would continue supporting EU entry talks with Ankara even if she favoured alternative options.
September 30 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission had talks
for the detailed screening of Turkish legislation in the area of trans-European networks, one of the 35 policy areas on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
October 02 Turkey is making serious efforts at reform in order to obtain
European Union membership, but the process could take another 10 years or so, said EU term president Finland's foreign minister
October 04 European Union Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, visiting
Turkey on the first anniversary of the opening of accession talks, urged Turkey to speed up its stalled reform efforts, warning that otherwise the fate of its EU membership might be at risk.
October 04 The Swiss government backs Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan's proposal to establish a joint Turkish-Armenian committee of scholars to investigate what happened to Armenians in the final days of the Ottoman Empire, Swiss Minister of Justice Christoph Blocher said.
October 05 European Union Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said that
Turkey must take steps to ensure freedom of expression if it wants to join the EU, stressing that the issue was non-negotiable, and warned that a Finnish proposal to break a deadlock over Cyprus could be the last window of opportunity to prevent a train crash in Turkey's accession talks.
October 06 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his visiting
German counterpart, Angela Merkel, commended the strong ties between Turkey and Germany at a meeting but differed on how to resolve a deadlock over Cyprus that threatens to block Turkey's accession process into the European Union.
October 07 French presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy said Turkey's entry
into the European Union would be the end of political Europe and suggested it would worsen the problem of Muslim integration in the continent.
October 09 Turkish leaders warned of economic sanctions against France if
the controversial bill criminalizing any denial of the alleged genocide of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire was adopted.
October 10 Officials from Turkey and the European Commission started talks
on the detailed screening of Turkish legislation in the area of regional policy and coordination of structural instruments, one of the 35 chapters on which Turkey and the European Union will hold accession talks.
October 12 A group of lawmakers from the main opposition Republican
People's Party (CHP) travelled to France to follow debates over the Armenian "genocide" bill in the French National Assembly.
October 13 Turkey reacted in fury after the French National Assembly
adopted a bill that criminalizes denial of an alleged genocide of Armenians, saying the move has dealt a "heavy blow" to bilateral ties.
October 14 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out at the
adoption by the French Parliament of a controversial bill that makes it a crime to deny that Armenians were subjected to genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, calling the legislation a "black stain for freedom of expression, democracy and history."
October 15 National Security Council (MGK) Secretary-General Yigit
Alpogan said the infamous train crash expected to hit Turkish-European Union ties later this year occurred on Thursday when French lawmakers adopted a controversial bill that criminalizes any denial of the alleged genocide of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.
October 16 French President Jacques Chirac has told Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan he is sorry French lawmakers approved a bill making it a crime to deny Armenians were victims of "genocide" at the hands of the Ottoman Turks.
October 16 European Parliament President Josep Borrell has cautioned that
Turkey should not be perceived as a threat for the European Union, while also admitting that Turkey's full membership negotiations with the bloc would be full of difficulties.
October 16 Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gill is participating in the first
meetings between the European Union Troika and Turkey after Ankara and the bloc wrapped up the screening phase in negotiations last week. The meeting, which also comes just weeks before the release of a key progress report on Turkey on Nov. 8 by the European Commission, is expected to be dominated by talks focusing on details of a Finnish EU presidency plan to avert a "train crash" in Turkey's membership talks over the ongoing Cyprus row.
October 17 Turkey has proposed a quartet meeting that would bring together
officials from Turkey, European Union term president Finland and the two Cypriot sides to discuss a set of proposals that Helsinki hopes will avert a looming crisis over Cyprus in Turkey's EU accession process.
October 17 European Union term president Finland has amended a set of
proposals that it has been floating in an effort to avert a crisis over Cyprus that could bring Turkey's accession talks with the bloc to a halt, offering temporary measures that would be in force for two years. The proposal, improved by Finland in light of feedback from the parties involved, foresees that the Turkish troops will withdraw from Varosha and hand over administration of the uninhabited town to the United Nations for two years; that the Turkish Cypriot port of Famagusta will be opened to
trade for two years under the supervision of the EU; and that the EU's direct trade regulations for Turkish Cyprus will enter into force again for two years.
October 19 The French government reiterated that it was committed to good
relations with Turkey after passage of a bill in the National Assembly that criminalizes denial of the alleged genocide of Armenians in the beginning of the last century by the Ottomans.
October 27 A senior official of the Council of Europe pressed Turkey to
change the infamous Article 301 in its penal code, telling top government leaders that the Turkish criticism of a French bill criminalizing denial of the alleged genocide of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire could raise scepticism while it still restricts free expression of differing views on the issue.
October 27 European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso stepped up
his criticism of Turkey's reform efforts, warning of the risk of a "traumatic stop" to Ankara's accession talks with the European Union.
October 28 A senior diplomat has responded harshly to European
Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso's recent remarks critical of Turkey's reform pace as he described Brussels' repetitive calls on Turkey as "incompatible with fairness and justice."
October 30 Some EU leaders opposed to Turkey's membership are
magnifying bilateral problems in the hope that exasperation will prompt the country to give up its accession bid, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah GUI said.
October 31 Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht arrived in Ankara for a
two-day visit expected to centre on Turkey's bid to join the European Union and the divided island of Cyprus.
October 31 Hansjoerg Kretschmer, the European Union's top envoy in
Ankara, criticized the military's re-emerging role in Turkish political life, saying the military's thinking has not changed despite legal reforms aimed at trimming its influence.
November 01 Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas
Hammarberg began a four-day visit to Turkey to discuss human rights issues with senior government leaders, judicial authorities and civil society representatives.
November 02 Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit is having
talks with Greek military officials in Athens at the official invitation of his Greek counterpart, Adm. Panagiotis Chinofotis.
November 02 European Union Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn
Finnish diplomat also opposed the suspension of accession talks with Ankara provided it fulfils its responsibilities.
November 03 Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said that the standing
Turkish threat to declare war if Greece extends its territorial waters was an 'unacceptable anachronism.'
November 04 The European Union's former envoy in Ankara urged Turkey to
recognize that Kurds have a distinct ethnic identity, putting him at odds again with Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyiikanit, who disapproved of attempts to "create minorities" in Turkey and told the EU to speak more carefully.
November 08 A naval exercise hosted by the Turkish Naval Forces started in
the Aegean Sea with the participation of Greek and Romanian ships.
November 09 The Turkish government rejected any linkage between the
Cyprus issue and its ongoing accession talks, saying that the responsibility of keeping Ankara's membership bid on track "falls more on the EU."
November 11 Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has emphasized that the
European Commission and the European Union Council will apply the same rules to Turkey that are also applied to other enlargement candidate countries.
November 11 Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok dismissed
European Union criticism that military commanders were becoming more outspoken in their statements on political matters, saying that the military was not interfering in politics.
November 13 Greece and Greek Cyprus have blocked progress in the opening
of negotiations in new policy areas in Turkey's EU accession process, demanding that Ankara's opening of its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus be included in those areas as "criteria."
November 14 Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis reiterated her
country's support for Turkey's bid to join the European Union and said Ankara should move toward the West, as intended by Mustafa Kemal Atatiirk, founder of modern Turkey.
November 14 The European Union Council endorsed a jury recommendation
declaring Istanbul a culture capital of Europe in 2010.
November 15 Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah GUI reaffirmed the
government's commitment to the European Union process but said that did not mean Turkey would be open to any abuse on issues like Cyprus.
November 21 The Finnish term presidency of the European Union said that
the deadline for a deal over the Cyprus dispute to avoid a setback in Turkey's bid to join the European Union is Dec. 6, when the EU Commission meets.
November 23 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his
opposition to a Dec. 6 deadline set by the European Union on a dispute over opening Turkish ports and airports to traffic from member Greek Cyprus, saying that Ankara had done its best and that it was now the EU's turn to keep its promises.
November 24 European Union Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn told
European parliamentarians that the 25-nation bloc must keep its promises to candidate Turkey while it presses Ankara to honor its commitments.
November 24 Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis rejected an
amendment in a Finnish plan aimed at resolving a deadlock between the European Union and Turkey over Cyprus and said the plan would end up in a "dead end" if its proposal on the fate of the uninhabited town of Varosha is dropped.
November 25 Nicholas Baird, Britain's new ambassador to Turkey, has
expressed confidence in Turkey's European Union process, while he also tried to calm fears over European public opinion worrying about a huge Turkish population influx if Turkey is accepted as a member in the future.
November 28 Talks between the European Union and Turkey over the
deep-seated Cyprus problem broke down without an agreement, prompting the bloc to start debates on whether to suspend Ankara's accession negotiations.
November 29 Turkish State Minister Mehmet Aydin arrived in Berlin where
he would later have talks with both Federal Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and State Minister Maria Bohmer. The integration of a sizeable Turkish population in Germany was expected to top the agenda of Aydin's talks in the German capital.
November 29 Britain, a leading supporter of Turkey's membership in the EU,
raised concerns over economic consequences if the stalemate on Cyprus persists, when British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett phoned Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah GUI ahead of a meeting of European and Mediterranean foreign ministers in Tampere, Finland.
November 30 The European Commission has recommended that the bloc's
leaders suspend accession talks with Turkey on eight of the 35 negotiating chapters to punish Ankara for its failure to open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus despite a customs union protocol it signed with the EU. These chapters include the free movement of goods, financial services, agriculture, fisheries, transport policy, customs union policy and external relations issues.
November 30 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the European Commission recommendation for a partial suspension of accession talks is unacceptable.
December 01 Pope Benedict XVI stressed Europe's "Christian roots" and
took a strong stance on religious freedoms and minority rights, dealing a blow to Turkey's hopes to secure Vatican support for its bid to join the European Union.
December 01 Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen arrived in Turkey to
meet with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The talks between Erdogan and Vanhanen, whose country holds the European Union's term presidency until the end of December, will focus on the future of Turkish-EU talks.
December 01 Turkish State Minister Ali Babacan, also Turkey's chief
negotiator for European Union talks, has reiterated that Ankara wanted problems over Cyprus to be dealt with separately to European Union accession talks.
December 02 Center-right French presidential contender Nicolas Sarkozy
called for a total suspension of European Union membership talks with Ankara, saying there was no place for Turkey in the 25-nation bloc.
December 02 Turkey urged the European Union to send a clear message that
its accession negotiations remain on track, after the bloc's executive commission recommended that leaders not open accession talks with Ankara on eight chapters due to a dispute centring on Cyprus.
December 05 European Union heavyweights Germany and France have
reportedly found common ground in demanding an 18-month suspension of Ankara's EU accession talks.
December 05 Portugal will use its six-month presidency of the European
Union next year to help push Turkey towards meeting the conditions for its membership of the bloc, a senior Portuguese official said.
December 05 The common perspective among the European Union member
countries regarding Turkey is "keeping doors open," Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said.
December 06 After a trilateral meeting with the French and Polish
presidents, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would lobby for the European Commission to issue a report on Turkish compliance by the period beginning with Turkey's elections next autumn, but no later than the European elections in 2009.
December 07 Only one day after the French-German axis proposed reviewing
Turkey's troubled European Union progress by 2009, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government had no plans to freeze relations with the 25-nation bloc.
December 11 Turkey signed an accord with Germany to develop bilateral
December 12 European Union foreign ministers struggled to reach a common
position on how to respond to Turkey's refusal to open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus. The ministers, meeting ahead of a summit of EU leaders later this week, apparently found common ground in the issue of how many chapters should be affected by Turkey's policy on the ports and airports. The Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot said the foreign ministers had reached an agreement that the number of affected chapters should be eight, in line with an earlier recommendation from the EU Commission.
December 13 Denouncing a decision by Brussels to slow down Ankara's
accession talks as "unfair," the Turkish government, has pledged in unison its determination to stay on the road to reform and EU standards for the sake of its own people.
December 19 A recent decision by a committee of the Council of Europe
clearly reveals that the Muslim Turkish minority in the Western Thrace region has been deprived of its fundamental human rights, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Namik Tan said in a written statement.
December 20 German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whose
country will assume the term presidency of the European Union in January, said that the opening of new negotiating chapters with Turkey and the adoption of direct trade regulations with Turkish Cyprus would be among the priorities during Germany's six months at the helm of the EU.
December 21 The European gave the green light for the launching of
membership talks on enterprise and industry policies.
December 28 Turkey said it had received an official invitation letter from the
European Union for the start of accession negotiations in one policy area, instead of four, complaining that the invitation failed to meet Ankara's expectations.
II. CYPRUS ISSUE
January 02 A military court in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
(KKTC) sentenced Marios Matsakis, a firebrand Greek Cypriot member of the European Union Parliament, to one day's imprisonment for pulling down a Turkish flag at a military post in Cyprus, after illegally crossing the line that separates the Turkish and Greek Cypriot parts of the island.
January 05 Marios Matsakis, a firebrand Greek Cypriot member of the
European Union Parliament, said he did not regret pulling down a Turkish flag in November from a military post along the buffer zone that separates internationally recognized Greek Cyprus from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC)."
January 05 Michael Moller, a veteran UN civil servant, took up his position
as head of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) and will also act as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representative in Cyprus.
January 15 The Greek Cypriot administration has slammed as provocative
the creation of a United Nations fund geared towards improving Turkish Cypriot living standards in the northern part of the divided Mediterranean island.
January 17 Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos has demanded 'honest
mediators' for a settlement in Cyprus, hinting that the United States and Britain were not appropriate for the job.
January 19 Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos said he is ready to
return to talks to reunite the island as soon as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan invites him.
January 19 The European Parliament has set up a committee to establish
contact with political representatives in the northern part of the ethically divided island of Cyprus and report to the assembly on political developments in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC).
January 20 Greek Cypriots cranked up electricity output to supply northern
Cyprus after a major outage knocked out power supplies to thousands of households on the northern part of the island.
January 24 Ankara _ignaled that it was preparing for a fresh move to resolve
the deep-seated Cyprus problem, more than one-and-a-half years after a UN plan to reunite the island failed.
January 25 Turkey came forward with a new set of proposals to improve
prospects for a comprehensive settlement in Cyprus, declaring that it was prepared to open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus in return for lifting of restrictions on the ports and airports of Turkish Cyprus.
January 25 British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw started a tour of Cyprus,
Turkey and Greece on a mission aimed at assessing prospects for the resumption of UN-led reunification talks in Cyprus.
January 26 British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, on a visit to Cyprus for
talks with Turkish and Greek Cypriot officials, said that a set of proposals offered by Ankara to help resume Cyprus reunification talks should be seriously assessed; declaring that working towards a deal on the divided island would be a top priority for him in 2006.
February 03 The fact that the European Commission could not keep its
international isolation has been "embarrassing" the EU's Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn.
February 10 The Greek Cypriot administration reacted with fury to British
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw's bold criticism of its policies and lodged an official protest with Britain over the remarks, which the Greek Cypriot media took as a threat to recognize the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
February 20 Greek Cyprus has warned Turkey that it could veto its European
Union bid if Ankara fails to meet comply with an EU call to open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot traffic.
February 21 The Greek Cypriot administration has rejected a high-level
meeting of Turkish, Greek, Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot officials proposed by Turkey in an action plan to facilitate a solution in Cyprus. The Greek Cypriot administration described the plan as "totally unacceptable" and expressed optimism on relations with ally Greece after Dora Bakoyannis, known for her conciliatory stance towards Turkey, took over the post of foreign minister.
February 22 A senior UN official has said a mission previously undertaken
by the United Nations as arbitrator in talks on Cyprus is no longer valid.
February 22 Turkish authorities denied a Greek Cypriot vessel permission to
dock at a Mediterranean port.
February 23 Dora Bakoyannis, the newly appointed Greek foreign minister,
called for a fresh initiative to reunite the divided island of Cyprus, saying that the last UN plan which was rejected in a 2004 referendum was obsolete.
February 25 An attempt by a Greek Cypriot-flagged vessel to dock at a
Mediterranean port despite knowing it would not be allowed by Turkish authorities to do so was entirely a "provocation," according to Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat.
February 27 The United States has taken a historic step to ease the
international isolation of Turkish Cypriots by saying that trade with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was not illegal.
February 28 The resumption of reunification talks on the divided island of
Cyprus depends on whether Ankara soon realizes that it can't both maintain troops in Cyprus and aspire for membership in the European Union, a spokesman for the Greek Cypriot government was quoted as saying.
February 28 The European Union's foreign ministers approved a 139 million
euro financial aid package for the Turkish Cypriots, an offer likely to be rejected by the Turkish Cypriots since it came at the expense of putting aside a more critical decision on direct trade.
March 01 UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Greek Cypriot leader
Tassos Papadopoulos who met in Paris in a bid to lay the groundwork for an eventual resumption of peace negotiations on the divided island of Cyprus have agreed that the Cyprus issue remains to be a matter for the United Nations.
March 04 The United Nations mission to Cyprus said that it was ready to
facilitate technical talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriots in a tentative step towards reviving stalled peace negotiations.
March 05 Efforts by the United Nations to kick-start stalled peace talks on
the divided island of Cyprus seemed to have backfired as Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities disagreed on the way forward.
March 08 Turkey's Cyprus action plan that was unveiled late in January is
still on the table as Turkish diplomacy has been continuing its consultations with parties related to the Cyprus issue, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Namik Tan said.
March 11 Britain has brought to the agenda of a senior-level European Union
meeting the issue of the bloc's failed promises that were given to the Turkish Cypriots for easing their international isolation by economically assisting them via having direct trade with the northern part of the island.
March 14 The Sudanese government has extended its support to Turkey's
action plan for the resumption of the reunification process on the divided island of Cyprus.
March 22 The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) announced the
establishment of a "property commission" and appointed two foreign members from Germany and Sweden to the new entity.
March 22 Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Ferdi Sabit Soyer renewed calls for
eliminating the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots as he met with a delegation from the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) that arrived on the island for talks with Turkish Cypriot officials.
March 24 A group of Turkish Cypriot businessmen based in Britain visited
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, calling for steps to ease the isolation of Turkish Cyprus.
March 30 A UN-led reunification plan that was once rejected by the Greek
Cypriots despite being overwhelmingly approved by the Turkish Cypriots, failed to actually offer an opportunity for reunification and would have dragged the divided island of Cyprus toward new adventures, according to Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos.
March 31 Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat said that it was not yet definite whether the European Union's financial assistance package aimed at easing the international isolation of the Turkish Cypriots would be accepted or not.
April 03 Greek Foreign Minister, Dora Bakoyannis, claimed that Turkey was
eager for a resolution on Cyprus for the sake of its EU bid and that the Turkish Cypriots sought resolution to enable their deriving economic benefits from Greek Cyprus' EU entry.
April 08 A senior US State Department official has expressed his desire that
the process for reunifying Cyprus not become an obstacle to Turkey's ongoing European Union membership process. Speaking to a group of foreign journalists visiting Washington, Dan Fried, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, said Turkey's efforts for reunification of the island displays Ankara's political will backing a resolution based on a federative administration with two communities and bi-zonality
April 13 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ruled out any
compromise on the divided island of Cyprus unless the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots is lifted.
April 25 Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary-General
Ekmeleddin ihsanoglu said an OIC resolution that referred to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) as the "Turkish Cypriot State" was an indicator of an important and deep-rooted change.
April 25 Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat said a possible solution
to the deep-seated Cyprus problem was far away, referring to the presence of anti-settlement circles holding power on the southern part of the island.
April 27 The European Parliament's Budget Committee has given its
approval to grant financial aid to the Turkish Cypriots in the amount of 139 million euros.
May 10 Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos has described Ankara's
refusal to allow Greek Cyprus participate in an exercise to be hosted by Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean as part of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) as a "hostile action."
May 16 Greek Cypriot Parliament Speaker Dimitris Hristofyas crossed into the northern part of the island where he attended a religious ceremony.
May 17 The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) said in a written statement that it would renew border crossings after news reports that a Greek Cypriot politician crossed the border to disseminate election propaganda.
May 20 Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat said lifting the isolation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is the only way to eventually reunify the divided island of Cyprus.
May 23 The European Union cannot link Turkey opening its ports to Greek
Cypriot shipping, as required under EU accession rules, with any other issue, including the start of direct trade between the Turkish community in northern Cyprus and the rest of the EU, said Michael Leigh, director-general for enlargement in the European Commission.
May 24 Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat said the results of the Greek
Cypriot parliamentary elections - which saw gains for Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos' party - could damage reunification efforts on the divided island.
May 31 The time is still not ripe for a resumption of talks under UN auspices on the reunification of Cyprus, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan reiterated in a letter recently sent to Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat.
June 03 Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos has offered to meet with
Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat to try to resolve the fate of people missing from past conflicts, a spokesman said.
June 03 Cem Ozdemir, a European parliamentarian of Turkish origin, said
that members of the High-Level Contact Group (on Cyprus) agreed on the removal of isolation imposed on the Turkish Cypriots on the northern part of the island but added they did not have any idea how this could be implemented.
June 10 Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat met with German
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the first official contact between the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) and Germany, but one that does not amount to recognition.
June 10 Declaring that Cyprus is "one country," the US State Department
rejected suggestions of a US move toward recognition of the Turkish Cypriot government on the northern part of the Mediterranean island. "We do not and will not recognize any government other than the Republic of Cyprus on the island of Cyprus," Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Daniel Fried said.
June 17 With less than six months remaining for the end of his tenure, UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan has voiced pessimism, admitting that there are no prospects for a solution to the deep-seated Cyprus problem.
June 19 Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat opposes any move on
the part of Turkey to open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus and said such a step would mean further complication in the decades-old Cyprus dispute, as it would eliminate the only remaining means to force a settlement on the island.
June 22 Three separate documents issued at the end of the Organization of the
Islamic Conference (OIC) foreign ministers' meeting called for the lifting of sanctions imposed on the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC).
June 22 Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat has agreed to
UN-sponsored talks with Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos in a bid to re-start the stalled reunification process on the island, officials said.
June 22 A commission created in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
(KKTC) offered to settle property claims from Greek Cypriots through the return of property and compensation.
June 23 Greece dismissed a Turkish proposal to have a quartet meeting of the
Turkish, Greek, Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot sides to discuss a solution to the decades-old Cyprus problem.
June 27 The European Commission officially endorsed the establishment of a
European Union office in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
June 29 Without dismissing the common European Union stance on
reminding Turkey of its obligation to open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus by the end of the year, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has admitted that the bloc "should do something for northern Cyprus" in an apparent reference to the ongoing international isolation of the Turkish Cypriots.
July 03 Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah GUI has reiterated that
blackmailing would not be helpful in reaching a settlement to the decades-old Cyprus dispute, in an apparent reference to the Greek Cypriot administration's ongoing stubbornness.
July 04 Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat and Greek Cypriot leader
Tassos Papadopoulos held a landmark meeting - the first meeting between the two leaders since the failure of a UN reunification plan for the island that was rejected by the Greek Cypriots in an April 2004 referendum but overwhelmingly approved by Turkish Cypriots.
July 09 Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat and Greek Cypriot leader
Tassos Papadopoulos met in the presence of a senior UN official to give a jolt to stalled peace process in the divided island and launch low-level, technical committee meetings between the two sides to level the stage for comprehensive talks.
July 19 Matthew Bryza, US deputy assistant secretary of state for European
and Eurasian affairs, had talks with Turkish Cypriot leaders a day after meeting Greek Cypriot officials to discuss the settlement efforts on the island, reiterating US commitment to UN-led efforts for a solution to the deep-seated issue. "No new proposal or an initiative was on the agenda," Hasan Er^akica, spokesman for Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat, said.
August 02 Leaders in divided Cyprus exchanged lists of issues proposed for
negotiation in UN-brokered talks - the first step toward reconciliation in more than two years.
August 09 Hasan Ercakica, presidential spokesman for the Turkish Republic
of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), said that Greek Cyprus has been in close cooperation with terrorist movements targeting Turkey.
August 17 Hasan Ercakica, spokesman for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) Presidency, reiterated the Turkish Cypriots' willingness to meet with Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos under the auspices of the United Nations.
August 18 The number of applications conveyed by Greek Cypriots to a
commission established in Turkish Cyprus to deal with Greek Cypriot claims over property abandoned in the north has reached 42 as of this week.
August 29 Greek Cyprus lodged an official protest after Mehmet Ali Talat,
president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), officiated at the prize-giving ceremony for the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul over the weekend. "This was a deliberately stage-managed move to promote the Turkish Cypriot leader as the supposed president of an independent state," Greek Cypriot administration spokesman Christodoulos Pashardis was quoted as saying.
September 04 Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat embarked on a
landmark visit to Pakistan at the invitation of his Pakistani counterpart, Pervez Musharraf.
September 07 A British judge ruled in favour of a British couple fighting a
court order calling for them to demolish their home in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a landmark verdict that is expected to set a precedent for a considerable number of cases with regard to British property ownership in the KKTC.
September 10 Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos said he was trying
avert a collision course with Turkey over its refusal to allow access to Greek Cypriot ships and planes under an European Union customs accord.
October 04 Greek Cyprus dismissed as 'absurd' Turkey's demands to end the
isolation of the Turkish Cypriots in the north of the island to deflect a crisis with the European Union this year over Ankara's refusal to open its ports to Greek Cypriot vessels.
October 12 Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat has reacted coolly to
a Finnish proposal on Cyprus, saying steps to end isolation of the Turkish Cypriots should not be a matter of bargaining.
