Angela Merkel urged Turkey yesterday to break the deadlock over its future status within the European Union by opening its ports to Cyprus.

The German Chancellor stopped short of threatening a tough, punitive “review clause” that could have derailed Turkey’s ambitions to join the EU.

“We don’t want to send any kind of ultimatum,” she said at a summit with President Chirac of France and President Kaczynski of Poland. Previously she had hinted at stern measures to bring Turkey into line. But yesterday she signalled that she could merely follow a European Commission proposal to freeze eight of the thirty-five chapters that must be negotiated with Ankara.

“We will be pushing for the European Commission to report on Turkish compliance in the period between Turkish elections next autumn and the European elections in spring 2009,” Mrs Merkel said.

The German leader’s change of tune may have been down to an early morning telephone call from the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who warned her against committing an “historic mistake” by squashing prematurely his country’s EU hopes. The EU insists that Turkey must open her ports to ships from Cyprus, an EU member, as a condition of Turkish membership. But Turkey is reluctant to surrender ground on Cyprus, which it does not recognise, in return for a vague commitment. There is growing doubt in the Turkish press that Germany and France will ever be prepared to let Ankara join.

The time frame set by Mrs Merkel was regarded as highly significant by diplomatic observers. “Turkey will not move on Cyprus during 2007 because it has presidential elections at the beginning of the year and parliamentary elections at the end,” one senior Western envoy said. “That means we need a solution in 2008 but that is when the German election campaign starts up. If the Turks don’t play ball, Merkel’s Christian Democrats could give the election an anti-Turkish spin.” Turkish entry to the EU divides the German coalition, with the Christian Democrats favouring at most a “privileged partnership” and the Social Democrats insisting on full membership.

There was a sense at the summit, held at Mettlach in western Germany, that the moment of truth on Turkey was approaching. The Germans are waiting to see if Nicolas Sarkozy, who is against Turkish membership, becomes the new French president.

Lech Kaczynski made clear that he did not like the studied vagueness of his colleagues. “We are in favour of full membership,” he said, “providing Turkey meets the entry criteria.”

He had been due to meet his French and German counterparts last summer but called off the summit, apparently because a German newspaper compared the Kaczynski twins (his brother Jaroslaw is Prime Minister) to new potatoes.

Yesterday the mood was more pleasant, but President Kaczynski said that Poland would maintain its veto against a European Union agreement with Russia until Moscow lifted its ban on Polish meat imports.

Mrs Merkel looked ill at ease. Germany takes over the EU presidency next month and Poland is a critic of both her goals: to make progress towards a European constitution and to manage energy security by reaching an understanding with Russia.

1963: date Turkey became an associate member of the European Union

Source: Times archive

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