BRUSSELS, Dec 10 (AFP) - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected Friday an EU appeal to recognize Cyprus, ahead of a summit next week due to decide whether Ankara can start EU entry talks, a Turkish diplomat said.
"Mr. Erdogan rejected the appeal by (European Commission chief Jose Manuel) Barroso concerning the recognition of the Republic of Cyprus by Turkey," said the diplomat.
"They are not deserving that after rejecting the Annan plan," he said, in reference to proposals by UN chief Kofi Annan to re-unite the island which were rejected by a referendum in April in the Greek-run south of the island.
He was speaking after Barroso, while saying he supports Turkey's EU bid, indicated that Ankara would have to recognize Cyprus to start membership talks, since Cyprus has been EU member state since May.
Barroso told Erdogan that "if and when the negotiation with Turkey will be opened it will be a negotation between Turkey and the EU, and it was clear that the EU (is) an entity of 25 member states," according to Barroso's spokeswoman.
Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974, when Turkish troops occupied the northern third of the island in response to a coup engineered by the then-ruling military junta in Athens to unite the country with Greece.
Only the Greek-Cypriot part of the island joined the EU on May 1, after Greek Cypriots rejected in a referendum a UN blueprint to reunify Cyprus. Turkey only recognises the Turkish Republic of Nothern Cyprus declared in 1983.
A short time earlier Erdogan reiterated his opposition to any new conditions to Ankara's bid to join the EU, ahead of a crunch summit on the issue next week.
"We don't want to be faced with extra criteria which do not already exist in the Copenhagen criteria," he said, referring to the political standards which the EU expects all member states to adhere to.
"The game has already begun, there should be no new rules," he said after talks with Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.
EU leaders meeting next Thursday and Friday are expected to give Ankara a green light to start talks, but set strict conditions including possible travel restrictions and a warning that the talks will take at least a decade.
Erdogan meanwhile reiterated Ankara's demand that it be offered the prospect nothing but full membership. Some EU states are suggesting that Turkey should be offered a "privileged partnership" instead.
"Our objective is full membership," said Erdogan.
12/10/2004 15:15 GMT - AFP