Greece has a major stake in Turkey's eventual membership in the EU. My country has made a point of being as useful as possible to its traditional rival in terms of lobbying other EU countries and sharing its own experiences as an EU member. But Greece has made its support for the membership bid dependent on Turkey's commitment to meeting EU criteria.

If Turkey lives up to the standards set by the EU, which include improving its human rights record and ending disputes with its neighbors, among them Greece and Cyprus, then Greece will acquire a new EU partner. Problems between the two countries would be solved. If Turkey does not meet its commitments, then it would undermine EU principles and be a source of problems for its neighbors.

The issue gets complicated when we consider how Turkey will meet EU requirements. Here, Cyprus is key. The European Commission, which is the EU's executive body, has proposed that the 25 heads of state freeze discussion on eight of the 35 agreements that Turkey and all the EU members have to sign unanimously as part of the accession process. Three of these frozen "chapters" directly involve Turkey's relationship with Cyprus, which became an EU member while part of its territory was still occupied by Turkish forces, following an invasion in 1974.

Ankara refuses to abide by its EU agreement that Turkey open Cyprus' ports and airports to ships and planes, saying that it will only lift the ban once Turkish-Cypriots are allowed to trade freely with the rest of the world. If Turkey lifts its ban, this would signal recognition of the Cypriot government (which only Turkey does not recognize). If the Cypriot government accepts a deal that will allow Turkish-Cypriots to trade with the rest of the world directly without going through the Cypriot administration, that would entail recognizing the situation created by the Turkish invasion and occupation and be tantamount to the Republic of Cyprus ceding its sovereignty.

Cyprus argues, logically, that it cannot sign onto the membership of a candidate country that does not recognize the sovereignty of Cyprus. Other countries, focusing on human rights, argue that if Turkey wants to join the club then it must accept all its rules, not only the ones it chooses to. As Turkey's invasion was prompted by a Greek-Cypriot coup that aimed to unite Cyprus with Greece unilaterally, and followed 10 years of civil strife between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, the issue is at an impasse.

Turkey says that as a guarantor power for Cyprus (along with Greece and Britain), it had every right to intervene when the status of independent Cyprus was upset by the 1974 coup. Further complicating matters is the fact that prior to Cyprus's EU accession in 2004, Turkish-Cypriots voted to accept a UN-brokered plan for the island's future, while Greek-Cypriots voted overwhelmingly against the deal. Turkey, and the Turkish-Cypriots, therefore, demand something in return for their agreement with the UN plan, rather than Turkish-Cypriots' continued isolation as citizens of a pariah state. But the international community cannot go ahead and recognize as a sovereign state an entity that is the product of a military invasion and continued occupation. This is all a very long way to say that the historic entanglement of Greece and Turkey on Cyprus has created a seemingly insoluble puzzle. Everyone has their reasons for behaving as they do, and countless arguments in favor of their position (as comments on this blog will attest).

And this is where the European Union can break the deadlock, serving as a deus ex machina for all parties. If everyone abides by EU principles of civil behavior and good neighborliness, then no one has any reason to fear a larger neighbor. This applies to Turkish-Cypriots who would no longer fear being a minority on Cyprus, nor would the Greek-Cypriots fear the heavy hand of giant neighbor Turkey -- and nor, for that matter, would Greece fear territorial challenges from Turkey. But this will only happen when Turkey feels secure enough to take the giant leap of allowing it to ease its grip on Cyprus while reaching out for the benefits that EU membership will have on its own society and the broader region. This is a leap of faith and imagination that the decision-makers in Ankara have not shown any sign of considering so far. And the debate over Turkey's membership that is taking place in other EU countries, such as France and Germany, will not help the Turks as they make their own hard choices.

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