Making kissy-face

Remember what I said on Monday about Shrub and the Shrubberies being eager to reward Turkey for coming around to our way of thinking on the War on Terror^{(tm)(c)(pat.pend.)}?

Supporting Turkey's position on Cyprus was only the beginning, it seems. After a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Monday,

Bush expressed support for Turkey's bid to join the European Union.

"I would remind the people of this good country that I believe you ought to be given a date by the EU for your eventual acceptance into the EU," he said,

echoing the words on Ankara's behalf he'd said during a speech in Ireland before heading to Turkey.

That didn't go over well with French President Jacques Chirac. Despite supporting Turkey's eventual admission to the EU, Chirac said

Bush went "too far" by saying the European Union should admit Turkey, and he added that Bush commenting on Turkish-EU relations was like a French leader commenting on U.S.-Mexican ties.

"If President Bush really said that in the way that I read, then not only did he go too far, but he went into territory that isn't his," Chirac said.

"It's a bit like if I told the United States how they should manage their relations with Mexico."

Meanwhile, newly-emboldened Turkish Cypriots are demanding that Greek Cypriots should be required to adopt the UN peace plan they rejected in the April 24 referendum. If they don't do so within one year, reports Reuters on Thursday,

the international community should recognise the breakaway north as a separate state, the Turkish Cypriot foreign minister said in an interview broadcast on Thursday.

"We cannot wait forever for the Greek Cypriots to agree to the plan," said Serdar Denktash, foreign minister of breakaway northern Cyprus, recognised only by Ankara.

They also rejected the idea of any new negotiations on the reunification, as has the US.

Perhaps Nicosia should begin a nuclear weapons program. Then, it seems, there is always time for negotiations.