BRUSSELS, Dec 17 (AFP) - The leaders of five key European Union countries were trying Friday to thrash out a last-minute compromise over Cyprus to save an agreement on Turkey's EU membership bid, diplomats said.
The proposal would entail a change in the language of a draft text drawn up at a summit here in which Turkey would implicitly recognise the island's Greek Cypriot government for the first time.
It was being hammered out after the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Greece joined their Dutch counterpart Jan Peter Balkenende, who is chairing the summit talks, to seek ways of overcoming Turkish objections.
The Cyprus issue is threatening to derail the Brussels summit, which late Thursday made the historic offer to commence membership talks with Turkey from October 3 next year.
The EU leaders hedged the offer with a string of conditions, notably that Ankara signs a protocol to a 1963 accord it signed with the EU's forerunner, updating it to include the 10 newest nations which joined in May -- including Cyprus.
"Instead of imposing the obligation of signing the protocol... Turkey should undertake by its own declaration to do so," an EU diplomat told AFP, adding that if Ankara accepts, the declaration would be made immediately.
"Balkenende wanted to find a solution to the Cyprus question jointly" with his EU partners, another EU diplomat said earlier.
"The presidency has developed a proposal with the agreement of the three big countries (Britain, France and Germany). The presidency is still working on this proposal," he said.
Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since Turkish troops invaded its northern part in 1974. Ankara recognises only the Turkish Cypriot government, while the rest of the international community acknowledges the Greek Cypriots.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said earlier he was hopeful that EU leaders would find a way through the deadlock.
"I hope that it will go through," Schroeder told reporters, saying the EU was not demanding "formal recognition" of Cyprus, but only Ankara's signature on a diplomatic protocol.
12/17/2004 12:08 GMT - AFP