Turk PM shrugs off EU move, says reforms continue

ANKARA, Nov 29 (Reuters) Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan today put a brave face on a recommendation from the European Commission for a partial freeze of Ankara's EU talks, insisting the decision did not amount to a suspension.

Erdogan vowed to press on with EU-linked reforms but acknowledged there would be a slowdown in the EU process.

''Actually let us not view this as a suspension ... There will be something of a slowdown,'' he told a news conference at Ankara airport after returning from a NATO summit in Riga, noting the Commission's move was just a recommendation.

EU foreign ministers are expected to decide on the Commission's proposal at a meeting in Brussels on December 11.

The recommendation follows Ankara's refusal to open its ports to shipping from EU member Cyprus. Turkey says the EU must first lift trade restrictions against Turkish Cypriots in the north of the island that Ankara alone backs.

Erdogan, who faces a strong nationalist challenge in general elections next year, reiterated his stance that there would be no change in its Cyprus policy.

''We do not have any more concessions (on Cyprus),'' he said.

The Commission recommended the freezing of talks in eight of the 35 policy areas or ''chapters'' into which the negotiations are divided and said no chapter should be concluded until the Cyprus trade dispute was resolved.

Erdogan's comments at the airport were surprisingly mild after he was earlier quoted by Turkish television as saying the Commission's proposal was ''unacceptable''.

He noted that the prime minister of Finland, current holder of the EU's rotating presidency, would visit Ankara on Friday in a fresh bid to break the Cyprus deadlock.

''We will continue on our path in the same direction ... Our most important goal is to raise our country's standard of living,'' Erdogan said, making clear Turkey's political and economic reforms would continue regardless.

Cyprus has been split along ethnic lines since Turkey invaded northern Cyprus in 1974 after a brief Greek Cypriot coup backed by the military junta then ruling Greece.

Turkey began EU accession talks last year but has made little progress as Cyprus has blocked the opening of new chapters. It has so far completed talks in just one chapter, science and research.

REUTERS SBA BST0026