PRESIDENT Papadopoulos flies to Athens next week for consultations with the Greek government in view of forthcoming key discussions in the European Union concerning Turkey’s future relations with the bloc.

Papadopoulos is to meet Greek premier Costs Caramanlis on Thursday. The foreign ministers of the two countries, Petros Molyviatis and George Iacovou as well as other aides will join in the talks over a working lunch.

Athens radio said they would discuss tactics in view of the crucial meetings of Coreper and the foreign affairs council (August 25 and September 1 respectively) where Turkey will be the main topic.

Nicosia and Athens will try to thrash out a common stand, bearing in mind the positions of other leading EU members on the issue. In essence they have to decide whether they will insist on Ankara recognising the Cyprus Republic, before the opening of EU-Turkey accession talks on October 3.

Iacovou hinted yesterday that even if the talks formally open on that date, in practice they could be delayed while the 25 member states approved (unanimously) a negotiating mandate.

France caused a storm --and a probable new complication to Turkey’s bid to join the bloc-- when prime minister Dominique de Villepin said recently it was inconceivable that Turkey start entry talks as planned on October 3 without recognising the Cyprus Republic, one of the 25 members.

Turkey signed a protocol, on July 29, extending its customs union to new EU members, including Cyprus, but at the same time issued a statement refusing to change its stand of not recognising the government of the Cyprus Republic, viewed in Brussels as the sole legitimate authority on the island.

Commerce and Industry Minister Yiorgos Lillikas said yesterday the French stand was a "position of principle" since in essence reminded of basic principles and values which Turkey must espouse, if it wished to proceed with its course towards Europe. The Cyprus government hoped that other EU countries would follow France’s example, he added.

Politics apart, there will be a legal wrangle over Turkey’s signing of the protocol and the declaration it issued the same day. Some politicians, including Jack Straw of Britain and Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn hold the view that the signing of the protocol amounts in practical terms to recognition.

A French diplomatic source told the Cyprus Weekly that two legal studies are already being prepared on the controversial Turkish declaration - one by the EU Commission and the other by the EU Council. But there are no decisions expected before August 25 when EU ambassadors meet to review the situation, the source added.

The French also denied press reports that President Chirac had sent a personal letter to President Papadopoulos. A Foreign ministry spokesman in Paris was asked about the contents of a French "letter" published in yesterday’s issue of Simerini newspaper in Nicosia, which restated Villepin’s stand that Turkey should recognise the Cyprus Republic. The spokesman said there was "no letter from any French authority on this subject".

Iacovou made it clear the note was an "internal memo" prepared by the French government, and communicated to Cyprus and other EU members.

Iacovou also said the French government felt that Turkey, through the submission of its declaration had in effect "not fulfilled its obligation to sign the adaptation protocol" on customs union.

He said the Turkish statement was "provocative" and caused alarm among European partners (see page 7).

In Ankara, Economy Minister Ali Babacan said yesterday he believed the French government’s stand was dictated purely by domestic politics. A majority of French voters oppose granting EU membership to Turkey, a large, mainly Moslem and relatively poor country.

" We see the French developments entirely as domestic politics", he said. "It is nothing but political noise".

Babacan, who will head Turkey’s negotiating team, also told NTV television in an interview that Turkey had done all it could to reach a peace settlement on Cyprus, and complained that it was "unfair" of the European Union to exert pressure on Ankara to recognise the Cyprus government.

Babacan repeated Ankara’s position that it would be ready to recognise the Cypriot government only after a comprehensive peace settlement. He also believed there were "no legal or technical obstacles " remaining to the start of accession talks on October 3.