EU move makes Turkey's task tougher-ruling party MP

ANKARA, Dec 12 (Reuters) The European Union's decision to partially suspend Turkey's entry talks will cause problems for the Muslim nation, but Ankara will still press ahead on its path to membership, a senior ruling party lawmaker said today.

''A much more difficult process awaits Turkey. We need to be careful and calm,'' Koksal Toptan, the head of parliament's justice commission and a senior member of the ruling centre-right AK Party, told Reuters.

''This situation should not make us give up on our EU vision and objectives,'' Toptan said, in the first AK Party reaction to Monday's decision by EU foreign ministers to suspend talks in eight of 35 chapters or policy areas Turkey must work through.

The EU move came after Ankara failed to open its ports and airports to traffic from EU member Cyprus, whose government Turkey does not recognise.

Turkey backs breakaway Turkish Cypriots in the north of the divided Mediterranean island. It says it cannot open its ports to the Greek Cypriots until the EU lifts trade restrictions against the Turkish Cypriots, a move so far blocked by Cyprus.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his government have so far declined comment on the EU decision, but Turkish financial markets rose on Tuesday amid a sense of relief that the EU had not punished Ankara more severely.

The lira currency traded at 1.4225 to the dollar in morning trade, up from Monday's close of 1.4315. Turkish shares were also firmer.

''Yesterday evening's EU decision... is market positive for Turkey... It could have been worse,'' said Timothy Ash, an emerging markets analyst at Bear Stearns International.

Cyprus and its allies had pressed for tougher action against Turkey.

But senior opposition lawmaker Onur Oymen said the EU decision was still ''very disappointing'' for Turkey.

''This is an undeserved punishment for Turkey. It is very bad.

The EU is formally linking Turkey's accession process to the Cyprus issue,'' said Oymen, who is from the centre-left but nationalist-minded Republican People's Party (CHP).

''Though only eight chapters have been suspended, all the others too are linked to progress on Cyprus,'' he said.

Turkey began EU entry talks last year but is not expected to join the bloc for many years if ever.

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

REUTERS SHB VV1523