Turkey this week unveiled a "fresh" initiative on Cyprus. Under the plan, the Turks would open their ports and airspace to Greek-Cypriot carriers in return for an end to the bans on direct trade that have hemmed in northern Cyprus. The European Union commissioner for enlargement, Olli Rehn, said the plan merited "careful examination", a view echoed in Washington. But the Greek-Cypriot president, Tassos Papadopoulos, dismissed it as "an attempt by Turkey to avoid fulfilling its obligations towards Cyprus and the eu." Since the Greek-Cypriots said no to the un plan to reunify the island in April 2004, they have been seen as the biggest obstacle to a settlement. After joining the eu, the Greek-Cypriots have snarled up eu proposals to ease trade restrictions on the unrecognised Turkish-Cypriot state. This week Mr Papadopoulos peevishly refused to meet Jack Straw, on the ground that the British foreign secretary had legitimised the Turkish-Cypriot state by calling on its leader, Mehmet Ali Talat, in his official office. Mr Straw hit back by praising Turkey's initiative, adding that "the current situation is bad for Cyprus, bad for the east Mediterranean and bad for the eu."
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机译：土耳其本周对塞浦路斯宣布了一项“新”倡议。根据该计划，土耳其人将向希族塞人航母开放自己的港口和领空，以换取结束在塞浦路斯北部卷土重来的直接贸易禁令。欧盟扩大专员奥利·雷恩（Olli Rehn）表示，该计划值得“仔细检查”，华盛顿对此表示赞同。但是，希族塞人总统塔索斯·帕帕多普洛斯（Tassos Papadopoulos）将其视为“土耳其为避免履行其对塞浦路斯和欧盟的义务而进行的尝试”。自从希族塞人于2004年4月对联合国统一岛屿的计划表示不接受以来，他们一直被视为解决定居点的最大障碍。加入欧盟后，希族塞人提出了欧盟建议，以放松对未被承认的土族塞人国家的贸易限制。本周，帕帕多普洛斯先生强烈拒绝与杰克·斯特劳见面，理由是英国外交大臣在其官方办公室拜访了其领导人穆罕默德·阿里·塔拉特（Mehmet Ali Talat），从而使土族和塞浦路斯国家合法化。斯特劳对赞扬土耳其的倡议进行了反击，并补充说：“当前局势对塞浦路斯不利，对东地中海不利，对欧盟不利。”
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