World Bulletin/News Desk

Turkey's EU Affairs Minister and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis said on Thursday "which country has given its land to open new chapter," and criticized Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiadis by saying, "Behave yourself" after he implicitly demanded closed Maras region.

Speaking in the Permanent Delegation of Turkey to the European Union in Brussels on Thursday, Bagis criticized Anastasiadis for his implicit demand for closed Maras region by saying "Behave yourself."

Evaluating Anastasiadis' implicit demand for closed Maras region in Cyprus to encompass within the Greek Cypriot administration in exchange for opening the chapters of "Judiciary and Fundamental Rights” and “Justice, Freedom and Security”, Bagis said "Turkey would not give its land not only for opening chapters (in accession process to EU) but also for the EU membership."

Criticizing EU Commission for the publishing date of Turkey's progress report, Bagis said the publishing date of Turkey's progress report, October 16, coincided with Turkey's religious holiday which is disrespect to Turkey.

Bagis said "We have informed EU about the issue and objected to the publishing date, as they would be uncomfortable with publishing their progress report at Christmas time."

"We emphasized that we are not comfortable with this date in terms of our values and we perceived this as disrespect," Bagis said.