ATHENS - Turkey's agreement to an extension of its customs agreement with the European Union to Cyprus is "only a first step" on the road to full recognition of the island's only internationally-accepted government, the Greek foreign ministry said Thursday.
Commenting on a letter sent by Turkey to the European Union in which the EU accession candidate agreed to the protocol text, Greek Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis said Ankara's gesture is tantamount to putting one's initials on a document.
"This is only the first step, the agreement must be signed and applied," he said.
In a press conference Thursday, foreign ministry spokesman George Koumoutsakos noted that "Turkey has the obligation to sign the protocol ahead of the scheduled opening of accession talks on October 3."
Addressing concern expressed in Greek media that Turkey could delay the agreement's implementation and keep Cypriot ships and airplanes from its territory, Koumoutsakos insisted that "a signature means implementation."
But the ministry spokesman declined to specify whether the protocol's signature signifies automatic and immediate implementation.
Turkey, which refuses to recognise the Republic of Cyprus, an EU member-state, recently argued that signing the protocol does not mean recognition of the Greek-Cypriot state.
Northern Cyprus has been occupied by Turkish troops since 1974, when a Greek-Cypriot coup d'etat aiming at union with Greece prompted a Turkish military intervention. Ankara only recognises the Turkish-Cypriot "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus", which proclaimed itself a state in 1983.
Molyviatis noted Thursday "a willingness among all interested parties to return to a procedure aiming at the island's reunification" on the basis of a plan proposed by United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan in April 2004.
But the Greek minister stressed that such an effort should have "the best guarantees of success possible" before being attempted.
Presented to both the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot populations in April, the so-called Annan plan was approved in the occupied north but rejected in the south.
03/31/2005 15:27 GMT