Turkey’s troubled bid to join the European Union endured another blow on Thursday, after an attempt to negotiate a deal over Cyprus was called off.

Finland, holder of the EU presidency, announced it was cancelling plans for a ministerial-level meeting on Sunday intended to address the biggest current difficulty in the negotiations – Turkey’s failure to comply with an EU demand to open its ports to vessels from Cyprus. Ankara does not have diplomatic relations with Cyprus, but Finland had hoped to reach a deal at the meeting, which would have involved Turkey, Cyprus and the self-styled Turkish republic of Northern Cyprus.