Bloomberg.com: Erdogan Says EU Is Being Unfair to Turkey, Turkish Cypriots - by Bill Varner
Erdogan Says EU Is Being Unfair to Turkey, Turkish Cypriots - by Bill Varner
The European Union is unfairly blocking Turkey's membership in the group and unjustly punishing Turkish Cypriots with a trade embargo, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the United Nations. Erdogan told reporters today that Turkey deserved membership in the EU because his government supported UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's plan to unify Cyprus. The plan failed because Greek Cypriots in the southern two-thirds of the island rejected it in an April 2004 vote.
``Saying no to the plan was saying no to what the EU wanted,'' Erdogan said. ``It was saying no to achieving peace on the island. What happened in the aftermath was that Greek Cypriots were rewarded by becoming EU members, but Turkish Cypriots are still being punished.''
