Cyprus says cannot lift veto on Turkey's EU talks

ATHENS (Reuters) - Cyprus said on Monday it would not end its opposition to Turkish accession negotiations with the European Union, saying the reasons it had blocked them in the first place remained valid. European Union leaders last week pledged to 're-energise' long-stalled accession negotiations with Ankara in return for its help in tackling a migration crisis that has seen hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflicts and poverty in the Middle East and Africa pour into Europe. "The reasons they (the negotiations) were frozen have not ceased to exist," Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides told the Greek state broadcaster NET. "As things presently stand, we cannot give our consent (to their resumption)." He referred specifically to two chapters, or policy areas in accession negotiations, concerning the judiciary and fundamental rights, and justice, freedom and security. Cyprus, an EU member state since 2004, has been split along ethnic lines since a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek inspired coup. Cyprus is blocking the accession talks because Turkey still keeps troops in the breakaway northern part of the island whose government is recognised only by Ankara. The EU considers the Greek Cypriot government in Nicosia to represent the whole island. On-off peace talks over the years to reunite the island as a federation have failed, but diplomats say a present round of talks are showing encouraging signs of progress. (Reporting By Michele Kambas; Editing by Gareth Jones)