The European Commission President, Mr Romano Prodi, said yesterday that Turkey's reforms had brought the candidate country closer to the EU.
He said a settlement in Cyprus would boost Ankara's chances of starting entry talks.
Mr Prodi said Cyprus's reunification was not a precondition for accession talks, but urged Ankara to push the Turkish Cypriot enclave it sponsors into resuming talks on a UN peace plan in the hope of reunifying the island before it joins the EU in May.
"My main message is for Turkey to continue along the path of reforms because impressive progress has been achieved, and the country is now closer to the Union," Mr Prodi said at a joint news conference with Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.
Because of Turkey's poor human rights record, the EU has not opened negotiations on its entry into the bloc as it has with other candidate countries.
But Mr Prodi, the first Commission chief to visit Ankara in 40 years, praised Muslim Turkey's efforts to implement sensitive political reforms to meet the EU's basic criteria for opening talks.
Political observers say Turkey's quest to secure a date to begin talks some time in 2005 could also hinge on whether Cyprus's ethnic Greeks and Turks can be reconciled after 30 years of division.
Mr Prodi made clear that a Cyprus deal would help Turkey's chances. "We hope that Turkey will use its influence in co-operating with the political forces in reaching a comprehensive settlement . . . I hope before May 1st. This is clearly not a precondition," he said.
Cyprus has been split on ethnic lines since Turkish troops invaded the northern part of the island in 1974, after a brief Greek Cypriot coup backed by the military then ruling Greece.
Without a settlement, the Greek Cypriots will be regarded as representing the whole island, cementing its ethnic division, deepening the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots and jeopardising Turkey's chances of starting EU accession talks. - (Reuters)