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Cyprus Not Alone in Efforts to Keep Turkey Out of EU – Turkish FM

© AP Photo / Petros KaradjiasTurkish Cypriot couple, seen behind barbed wire and an EU flag, as they cross the Ledra Palace checkpoint in Nicosia, Cyprus (File)
Turkish Cypriot couple, seen behind barbed wire and an EU flag, as they cross the Ledra Palace checkpoint in Nicosia, Cyprus (File) - Sputnik International
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Cyprus is not the only EU nation that does not want to see Turkey in the bloc, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a televised interview Friday, adding that those countries are now in direct talks with Ankara.

Turkish army's tanks at the Turkey-Iraq border . (File) - Sputnik International
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ANKARA (Sputnik) Cyprus has been vetoing Turkey’s admission to the 28-nation bloc. The two countries have been in a decades-long territorial dispute over the northern part of the island, occupied by Turks since 1974.

"The EU can override the Cyprus veto and resolve this issue, but until now it has not taken a firm stand," Cavusoglu said in a live interview on NTV. "There are other EU countries behind Cyprus, but now they are coming to the fore to talk to us directly."

Ankara applied to join the European Union's predecessor, the European Economic Community, in 1987, but accession talks began only in 2005.

The 2015 migrant crisis in Europe significantly improved Turkey’s chances of accession to the bloc after Brussels asked Ankara to tighten its northern border to prevent thousands of undocumented migrants from entering Europe.

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