Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis praised on Friday the European Union (EU)'s recent decision to officially adopt Romania and Bulgaria as its full member on Jan. 1, 2007, saying that the EU's fifth successful enlargement marks a decision of historic importance for the Balkan region.

Speaking during a press conference after the end of the European leaders' summit in Brussels, the Greek prime minister underlined that this development would also be an incentive and a message to other countries in the Balkans to fully comply with European principles and values, Athens News Agency reported.

Karamanlis reiterated Greece's support for the European prospects of southeastern Europe but also emphasized that the progress made by candidate-states depended primarily on themselves and their compliance with EU criteria.

Regarding Turkey, meanwhile, he said that Athens' position could be summed up with the phrase "full compliance, full accession," noting that such a "clean" final outcome would be an incentive to Greece's neighbor to adapt to EU criteria and an effective lever for putting pressure on Turkey to conform.

The Greek premier noted that European leaders agreed to partially suspend accession talks with Turkey over its failure to implement a customs union protocol and open its ports and airports to traffic from Cyprus.

Cyprus was divided in 1974 when Turkey militarily intervened and occupied the north of Cyprus following a coup by a group of Greek officers.

The internationally-recognized Republic of Cyprus entered the EU in 2004 in the name of the whole island.

Turkey has refused to open its harbors and ports to Cyprus as prescribed by an agreement with the EU until the bloc keeps its promise to ease the international isolation of the divided island's Turkish community recognized only by Turkey.

Source: Xinhua