Interviewee: Now in the other hand, there is a deal I think. I think the U.S. can help with this deal, but it requires more subtlety. There is an issue on Turkey and NATO and the EU. Currently in Afghanistan, we have a NATO operation. We also have EU police. They have been trying to share intelligence about where are the safe places, etc. to go, to send the police. It’s been difficult because Turkey has blocked the sharing of intelligence with the EU for some complicated reasons that have to do with Cypress of all things, of course.
Interviewer: Uh-hmm.
Interviewee: It won’t surprise you. Turkey also wants to be closer to the EU on defense issues. It used to be very close when before the EU, there was the WEU, the Western European Union. And since that no longer exist, Turkey has been a little bit cut out of some of the decision-making about European Military operations and civil operations. The EU has also, I think, not fully lived up to some promises it made about when it would consult with Turkey, when it’s going to launch an operation close to Turkey. I think there is a place in the United States to broker an arrangement where Turkey would get closer access to the EU foreign policy and defense policy.
Interviewer: Uh-hmm.
Interviewee: It’s already a major contributor to many EU Military missions. And in return, Turkey would open one of its ports to Cypriote shipment, at least provisionally to see then if maybe Cypress would allow the Turkish Cypriotes to have direct trade with the EU, which the European commission would like to do, but legally has been unable to do. So I think there is a place for the U.S. to broker some kind of deal like this that can at least get us over some of these deadlines that we faced in late 2009. We will still have the problem of the European public.
Interviewer: Yes.