France has raised a potential new hurdle to Turkey starting European Union membership talks in October, saying Ankara must recognise Cyprus first.
The executive European Commission and EU President Britain said the 25 EU leaders had never made recognition a prerequisite for opening negotiations and the Cyprus question should be dealt with separately in a UN framework.
A Turkish official said the call by French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin was an attempt to violate commitments the EU had made to Ankara last year, but Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said he still expected France's support.
Greece meanwhile upped pressure over the divided island by postponing a planned visit by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis to Turkey this month that would have been the first by a Greek premier to Athens' historic Aegean rival in more than 46 years.
Villepin cast doubt on the agreed date in October for the start of Turkey's accession talks, just days after Ankara met the final official EU condition by signing an agreement extending its customs union to new EU members, including Cyprus.
"It doesn't seem conceivable to me that a negotiation process of whatever kind can start with a country that does not recognise every member state of the European Union, in other words all 25 of them," he told Europe 1 radio.
"Entering a negotiation process, whatever it is, first assumes recognition of each of the members."
Asked whether this meant that the start of entry talks could be delayed from October 3, Villepin said "of course", adding that it was "urgent to wait, to wait for Turkey to show a real willingness to enter into this negotiation process".