German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday urged Turkey to open its ports to planes and ships from Cyprus or face consequences for failing to do so.

"Turkey must fulfill its obligations by the end of the year, otherwise the EU will draw the appropriate conclusions," Merkel said.

Merkel made the remarks as the European Union Wednesday gave Ankara a mid-December deadline to open ports to planes and vessels from Greek Cypriot, saying this was a key condition for keeping Turkey's EU entry bid on track.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso warned that Turkey's failure to fulfill its obligations toward Cyprus would affect the overall process in its one-year-old EU membership talks.

Merkel stressed that a continuation of Ankara's present ban on ships and planes from EU member state Cyprus was out of the question.

Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Secretary General Ronald Pofalla said, "The CDU wants a privileged partnership for Turkey with the EU because full membership would be over-burden integration capacity of the Union."

Turkish Community of Germany (TGD) warned that halting EU negotiations with Ankara would have "fatal consequences" not only for the bloc and Turkey but for the German Turkish community.

"Such a move would badly damage integration efforts of Turks living in Germany," TGD Chairman Kenan Kolat said.

Among Germany's 82 million population are around 2.8 million Turks.

Source: Xinhua