ANKARA - Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal met with representatives of diplomatic missions of the European Union (EU) member countries in Ankara on Monday. During the meeting, Ankara's sine qua nons about the Cyprus issue were conveyed to the EU ambassadors prior to the four-party conference in Switzerland.
Replying to questions of journalists following the meeting, Sean Whelan, the Ambassador of the current EU Term President Ireland, said that they had the opportunity of understanding Turkey's point of view about the Cyprus issue.
Stressing that political and legal issues should not be confused on the Cyprus issue, Whelan said that the EU's support to resolve the issue as soon as possible would continue, however, it was too early to comment about legal issues on an agreement since it was not clear yet which derogation would be included in the agreement. Whelan noted that the EU Commission and Turkish jurists have been continuing to work on the issue.
When asked whether or not approval of national parliaments was required to recognize a possible agreement as primary law of the EU, Whelan said that such a practice would take about 1.5-2 years when taking into consideration that number of EU-member states would increase to 25.
(UK-AÖ) 22.03.2004