Deputy Foreign Minister Yiannis Kranidiotis said yesterday that the Cyprus issue remained the touchstone of Greek relations with Turkey.

"It is a standing position of ours that as long as the Cyprus issue goes unsolved there cannot be a full and substantive normalisation of relations between Greece and Turkey," Mr. Kranidiotis said in an interview to the Cypriot Phileleftheros newspaper.

He was asked to comment on Greece's veto of Turkey in the European Union as a "lever of pressure."

"You should know that 'levers of pressure' and 'weapons' often have some kind of limit. Overstepping the limit diminishes their value," Mr. Kranidiotis replied.

"At the same time, a new set of circumstances raises the value of other means at our disposal. So if the use of a weapon ceases to be so advantageous, I believe it warrants study of the use of other means."

But use of the veto against Turkey was fully justified in the case of Cyprus, he added.

"That is why we have said that Turkey cannot move towards the EU if the terms and conditions in place for all candidate countries do not apply in Turkey's case also; if it does not change its policy on Cyprus and the Aegean," Mr. Kranidiotis said.

"In other words, we have said that for Greece to consent to a European orientation for Turkey, it wants an exchange in (the form of) Cyprus and the Aegean."