Untying the EU-Turkey-Cyprus triangle

The European Parliament adopted a non-binding resolution on Nov. 24, recommending that the European Commission and member states temporarily suspend the already frozen accession negotiations with Turkey. Although any formal decision to officially cease negotiations with Turkey requires consensus at the European Council - something nobody expects at the moment - the overwhelming "yes" vote in the EP, 479 in favor to 37 against, reflects the unease toward Turkey in EU circles.

In contrast to the EP resolution, most of the member states are still in favor of the continuation of talks with Turkey, even if there are no real talks at the moment and the members are also worried about the current developments in Turkey. While it looked as if Turkey and the EU were finally making progress after a readmission deal was struck on March 18, 2016, to stem the flow of refugees through Turkey into Europe in return for visa liberalization for Turkish citizens, the horizon has been clouded again with mutual accusations of non-compliance, developments in Turkey after the July 15 coup attempt, anti-Turkish remarks from several European politicians and finally the untimely EP resolution.

While observers talked about the EU anchor for and conditionality effect on Turkey's reform process in the aftermath of the start of the accession negotiations, those days are long gone, and the EU has lost whatever leverage it once had on Turkey. In addition to Turkey's failures, the EU has a share of responsibility in the current state of affairs. Starting from the submission of its formal application for EU membership in 1987, Turkey has been facing biased attitudes from many members. For years, Greece and the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) have been cited as blockers and used as...

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