Cyprus rejects opening of Turk Cypriot airport

NICOSIA, Dec 7 (Reuters) Cyprus said today it would never consent to opening a Turkish Cypriot airport to flights other than to Turkey as part of a compromise whereby Turkey would open its own ports and airports to Greek Cypriot traffic.

''This can never happen,'' government spokesman Christodoulos Pashiardis told Reuters.

''There is no possibility we would ever give consent to opening (this) airport because something like that would constitute indirect recognition of the pseudo-state,'' he said, referring to the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in north Cyprus.

European Union President Finland said today Turkey planned to open a port and an airport to traffic from EU member Cyprus -- among demands set by Brussels for Ankara to make progress in talks on its membership.

Turkey has long resisted the move, saying it wanted the EU to first ease the isolation of Turkish Cypriot northern Cyprus, which is recognised only by Ankara.

A Turkish Foreign Ministry source said the deal was conditional on the EU opening up the same number of ports and airports in the enclave.

Northern Cyprus has one civilian airport, Ercan, and one large commercial port in the eastern city of Famagusta. At the moment, all flights into and out of northern Cyprus have to go via Turkey.

The enclave of some 250,000 people has no direct trade links with the outside world. Turkey has some 30,000 troops in the territory, which it invaded in 1974 in response to a brief Greek inspired coup engineered by the military then ruling Greece.

REUTERS PDM VV1545