Cypriot President says fully satisfied with EU-Turkey deal on migration

Cyprus's President Nicos Anastasiades said he was satisfied with the outcome of negotiations in Brussels between the European Union and Turkey on a deal to meet the migration crisis.

"I would like to express my full satisfaction with the results of today's very crucial Summit Meeting," Anastasiades said in his Twitter account after the end of the two day meeting.

Cyprus had been at the center of deliberations in Brussels as much of the talking had been on Turkey's demand to open new chapters in its negotiations for accession to the European Union.

Anastasiades had warned his EU partners that he would veto any deal if Nicosia was not satisfied with the deal.

Sources in Brussels were reported by the state radio as saying that Anastasiades had accepted to start working on the opening of five chapters which had been blocked by Cyprus but the actual opening will depend on Turkey complying with the negotiating framework.

The framework provides that chapters blocked by Cyprus will be opened only after Turkey met commitments it made to the European Union to open its ports and airports to Cypriot shipping and planes.

The refusal by Turkey to allow Cypriot ships to use its ports and planes to fly through its airspace is the result of Ankara's refusal to recognize Cyprus as an equal EU member-state.

Turkey occupied the eastern Mediterranean island's northern part in reaction to a coup organized by the military rulers of Greece at the time.

The sources said European Council President Donald Tusk told Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu at a meeting in Brussels before the deal was approved by the European leaders that the line on the opening of new chapters was the policy of the 28 member states of the EU and not just Cyprus. Endit