France raised a potential new hurdle on Tuesday to Turkey starting European Union membership talks in October, saying Ankara must recognise Cyprus first.
The executive European Commission and EU President Britain said the 25 EU leaders had never made recognition a prerequisite for opening negotiations and the Cyprus question should be dealt with separately in a UN framework.
A Turkish official said the call by French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin was an attempt to violate commitments the EU had made to Ankara last year, but he voiced confidence that President Jacques Chirac would keep his word to Turkey.
Greece meanwhile upped pressure over the divided island by postponing a planned visit to Turkey by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis this month that would have been the first by a Greek premier to Athens' historic Aegean rival in more than 46 years.
Villepin called into question the agreed October 3 for the start of Turkey's accession talks, just days after Ankara met the final official EU condition by signing an agreement extending its customs union to new EU members, including Cyprus.
"It doesn't seem conceivable to me that a negotiation process of whatever kind can start with a country that does not recognise every member state of the European Union, in other words all 25 of them," he told Europe 1 radio. "Entering a negotiation process, whatever it is, first assumes recognition of each of the members."
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