Turkey refuses to open its ports and airports to Cypriot ships and planes until negotiations on the status of the divided island are concluded, its foreign minister said Friday. In a hardening of Ankara's rhetoric towards Brussels, Ahmet Davutoglu also said the European Union should respect its accession 'engagements' and allow Turkey to join the bloc as soon as possible. Under a customs agreement with the European Union, which Turkey is struggling to join, Ankara must extend a trade protocol to the 10 nations that joined the bloc in 2004, including Cyprus, by the end of this year. But Turkey does not recognise its Greek-Cypriot government and refuses to open its ports to Cyprus unless the EU makes good on a promise to break the economic isolation of the Turkish Cypriot north. 'Recognition of the Greek Cypriots without solving the Cyprus question is not possible for us,' Davutoglu told media and experts at a conference in Brussels. The government in Nicosia, he said, wants 'to force Turkey to recognise Greek Cyprus, which we will not do.' 'My personal opinion is that even 2015 (to join the EU) would be too late, not just for us but for the European Union,' Davutoglu said when asked when he would like to see his country admitted to the EU club. Turkey's inclusion should come 'as soon as possible,' he said ahead of a meeting with European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso to discuss progress on accession negotiations which opened four years ago. 'We will always remind European leaders that a fundamental EU value is the respect of commitments made,' Davutoglu underlined. Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974 in response to a Greek Cypriot coup seeking to unite the Mediterranean island with Greece, and it has been divided ever since. In 2004, a UN-backed reunification plan was scrapped after being rejected in a referendum by Greek Cypriots but backed by the Turkish Cypriots. New UN-brokered efforts to resolve the standoff are progressing slowly. The United Nations is eager to step up the pace for a Cyprus solution, but little progress was made during 40 meetings in the first phase of talks. The two have since returned to the negotiating table in a bid to bridge differences over power-sharing and governance before touching on the more prickly issues of territory and security. The trade issue has held up Turkey's EU membership talks, which began four years ago. To join, all aspirants must complete 35 policy negotiating areas, or chapters. Ankara has formally opened 11 chapters. But eight others have been frozen since 2006 over the customs dispute. France is blocking another five chapters. France and Germany prefer to a 'privileged partnership' with mainly Muslim but secular Turkey, rather than full membership, which would give the populous and relatively poor nation a big say in the bloc's affairs. 