Cyprus plans to veto the EU-Turkey agreement on migration if Turkey fails to recognize the Greek Cypriot government, President Nicos Anastasiades said Thursday.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is due to join the EU member state leaders discussion on further steps in resolving the European migrant crisis on Friday, with the Turkey-EU deal on migration set to be finalized then.
"That is what I stressed to our partners during the previous Council on March 7th. As long as Turkey doesn't implement its obligations, we don't have any other choice," Anastasiades told the Euronews television channel.
Earlier in March, Europe and Ankara agreed on a deal under which Turkey pledged to take back all undocumented migrants that had arrived to the European Union in exchange for Syrian refugees on a one-for-one basis. In return, the European Union pledged to provide a total of 3 billion euros (over $3.3 billion) to Turkey for dealing with refugees, with a possible further 3 billion-euro provision, accelerate Turkey's EU accession process and introduce a visa-free regime between Turkey and Europe.
On Tuesday, Anastasiades said Cyprus would not agree to the opening of new chapters in Turkey's accession to the European Union if Turkey did not meet the commitments stipulated by the bloc, including the recognition of Cyprus as a state.