Visiting European Parliament President Jose Borrell on Tuesday urged Turkey to open its ports and airports to Cypriot ships and aircraft and to honor and observe the Copenhagen criteria in the framework of its negotiations for its European Union accession.

Borrell made this statement during his address to the Greek Parliament's European and Foreign Affairs Committees.

"The European Parliament will make no discounts regarding respect for the criteria, the values and the basic principles, part of which are relations of good neighborliness and respect for international law. We cannot possibly accept the accession of a country that will not observe these preconditions and this has been made clear to Turkey," Borrell said.

"The European Parliament is vigilant and has a very critical stance towards Turkey, to which it has been repeatedly pointed out that it must comply and respond to the preconditions and principles of the European Union," he added.

Referring to the issue of Cyprus in particular, the European Parliament president said that the European Parliament demands that Turkish ports and airports be opened, reminding that although Turkey has assumed the commitment to extend customs union to the 10 new member-states, however, it is continuing to refuse to extend it to Cyprus as well.

"Maybe an overall solution that will also include the withdrawal of Turkish troops is not feasible today, however, negotiations are under way under the auspices of the Finnish Presidency to achieve a partial agreement, such as the strengthening of trade transactions between Cyprus and Turkey and the northern part of the island and the rest of the EU," Borrell said.

Source: Xinhua