Cyprus is sticking point in EU-Turkey deal on refugees

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 Nicos Anastasiades, president of Cyprus, talks to the media as he arrives in Brussels. Photograph: Francois Walschaerts

A pact between the EU and Turkey to stem the flow of refugees and migrants to Europe appears at risk of unravelling over a decades-long dispute about the divided island of Cyprus

The 28 leaders of the EU are racing to patch up a deal with Ankara before a meeting with Turkey’s prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, on Friday. As talks got underway in Brussels on Thursday evening, Cyprus threatened to veto any deal that would not recognise its status.

Cyprus’s president, Nicos Anastasiades, warned he could not agree to restart Turkey’s EU membership talks until Ankara agreed to open its ports and airports to Cypriot goods, under the terms of an existing agreement. “If Turkey [were to fulfil] its obligations according to the Ankara protocol and the negotiating framework, there [would be] no problem. But without it we [can] do nothing.”

Turkey is pressing the EU to restart membership talks that have been frozen for nearly a decade over the Cypriot issue and broader concerns about democracy and freedom of speech. At a meeting with EU leaders last week, Davutoğlu called for talks to start on five policy areas, known as chapters, including the rule of law. 

Last week Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, and Davutoğlu agreed to speed up accession talks and prepare to ease visa restrictions for Turks, in exchange for Turkey taking back refugees and migrants from Greece. But the deal caused resentment among other EU leaders, who were left to find out about the plan at a summit the next day.

Cyprus has been divided since a Greek coup d’etat was followed by a Turkish invasion in 1974 and repeated efforts to unite the island have failed.

Donald Tusk, president of the European council, who is chairing the meeting, has emphasised that large EU countries cannot ride roughshod over Cyprus in the hope of agreeing a deal with Turkey. One EU source said: “We cannot accept a solution that will damage the peace talks in Cyprus.”

Belgium’s prime minister, Charles Michel, insisted no deal was better than a bad deal. “Turkey is asking a lot and I don’t accept a negotiation that at times represents a form of blackmail.”

While the issue of Cyprus is the biggest sticking point, some countries have lingering concerns about the legality of sending thousands of refugees back from Greece to Turkey.

Aid agencies have accused the EU of abandoning its obligations to refugees, while the UNHCR has voiced concern that people fleeing war or persecution could be returned to their country of origin if forced to go back to Turkey.

David Miliband, the former British foreign secretary who leads the International Rescue Committee, said: “The proposed EU-Turkey deal won’t work. A comprehensive resettlement programme is a humane, orderly and legal way to manage the refugee crisis.” 

Dalia Grybauskaitė, Lithuania’s president, said she understood criticism of the proposals. “The package is very complicated, it will be very difficult to implement and is on the edge of international law.”

Arriving at the summit, David Cameron said he supported the plan to send people back to Turkey. He emphasised that Britain’s “special status” meant the UK would not be granting visa-free travel to Turks or offering more Syrians asylum in the UKbeyond the 20,000 the UK has already promised to take over five years.

The International Rescue Committee has called on the EU to resettle 540,000 Syrians over five years. It said resettling 108,000 Syrians a year was a “fair and achievable commitment” that represents a quarter of all Syrians in need of international shelter.

But this number is far greater than the numbers being haggled over in the meeting rooms of Brussels. EU leaders are discussing resettling 72,000 Syrians in Europe but even these figures are recycled from existing schemes that have been slow to start.

The 43,000 refugees who are stuck in Greece now, unable to travel north as a result of border closures, would be left hanging. Another unresolved question is when mass returns would come into force. If the date were too far in the future, EU leaders fear a “pull effect” as refugees scramble to get to Europe before the deadline; but too soon, and Greece’s over-stretched legal system would be unable to cope.

Greece will need to send hundreds of judges to its islands, who will work around the clock assessing asylum claims. Individual assessments and the right of appeal are seen as crucial if the EU is to make the case that returns are in line with international law.

The UK thinks returns are legal, as long as asylum claims are assessed on their merits. The prime minister’s spokeswoman said: “We think this can be done in line with EU and international law and it is important it is introduced and set up in the right way. We think that means focusing on individual cases and [assessing them] on their merits. But it is one of the concerns raised by a number of countries.”