Brussels - Turkey has "lost confidence" in the European Union's desire and ability to broker a solution to the conflict on Cyprus, Turkey's foreign minister said Friday as he rejected calls to open his country's ports to Greek Cypriot vessels. "Over the last seven years, only Turkey has made gestures. If we had seen any gestures to the Turkish Cypriots by the EU or the Greek Cypriots, we would have been more encouraged to make more gestures ... We lost our confidence," Ahmet Davutoglu told journalists in Brussels.
Many of Turkey's EU accession talks are suspended because of its refusal to allow Greek Cypriot vessels into its territory. On October 14, the EU's executive, the European Commission, is expected to report on Turkey's progress in solving the problem.
But Davutoglu rejected calls to open up even one port and airport - a compromise first proposed in 2006 - saying that it would not be "meaningful" to make such a gesture while peace talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriots are still ongoing.
"If we open the ports, next morning (Greek Cypriot President Dimitris) Christofias will be negotiating in a much more negative manner ... thinking that Turkey is making concessions," he said.
Turkey does not think it is obliged to open the ports unless the EU opens its ports and airports to Turkish Cypriots, he said.
And he hit out at the EU's decision to accept the Greek half of the island into the bloc after Turkish Cypriots voted yes to a 2004 UN plan to reunite the island, while Greek Cypriots rejected it.
"For them, the Turkish Cypriot people are like semi-human beings. They cannot travel, they cannot have any culture, while Greek Cypriots are superhuman beings, they can say no (to Turkey) and they are not punished," he said.
For example, Greek Cyprus is blocking the opening of EU energy talks with Turkey, against the EU's strategic interest, he said.
Turkey sees itself as a key energy bridge and would like to host oil and gas pipelines to the EU from Iran, Iraq, Egypt and the Caspian basin.
Turkey has been negotiating towards EU membership since 2005, but in December 2006 the EU blocked talks on eight trade-related issues, out of a total of 35 subjects, because of the Cyprus dispute.
The question of Turkey's membership bid is one of the most controversial in Europe.
EU heavyweights France and Germany oppose the idea of Turkey joining the bloc at all. Britain, the Nordic states and some of the EU's newcomers in Central and Eastern Europe support Turkish membership.
