Turkey-Cyprus: Prometheus unbound or the catharsis of Afrodite?

Abstract

We know the origin of the unit dealing with external relations of the European Commission’s General Secretariat is Turkey’s application for membership in the Customs Union in 1959. The proclamation of the Republic of Cyprus as an independent republic impacted the development of the relationship between the EEC and Turkey (Katselli, 2006). The Ankara Agreement’s preamble “resolved to preserve and strengthen peace and liberty by the joint pursuit of the ideals underlyingthe Treaty establishing the European Economic Community.” Alain Peyrefitte reports that De Gaulle examined the Ankara Association agreement with Turkey from a long-term strategic perspective in the context of the wall’s fall and tended to subsume the EEC under a French confederalist design on Europe