"If things go from worse to worst, there may be no appetite on either side for the pipeline. The pipeline has a political meaning in addition to commercial. Now we must wait if the Greeks and the Turks will find out the commercial value is enough to go ahead even in the absence of political value," an Ankara-based energy analyst said. Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has postponed a landmark visit to Ankara because of scheduling problems and Turkey's attitude towards the recognition of Cyprus. Officially, Karamanlis' office has said the visit was put back because the two sides could not agree on a satisfactory date. But, at the time, the Greek side "also took into consideration...the emerging trend of Turkish policy on issues such as the EU protocol," it said. Mr Karamanlis' visit to the Turkish capital will now "probably" take place after 3 October, when accession talks between Ankara and the EU are scheduled to start. Turkey agreed on 29 July to extend an existing customs accord with the EU to include the bloc's 10 new member states, including Cyprus. But it attached a declaration to the document, stating that its signature did not amount to endorsement of the internationally-recognized Greek Cypriot government. The signing of the document was a key precondition set by Brussels for the start of accession talks. The postponed visit was announced during the launch in July of the joint Greek-Turkish gas pipeline project bridging the Caucasus and Western Europe. It aimed to underscore a significant improvement in relations between Athens and Ankara. Though territorial disputes in the Aegean Sea continue to divide the two NATO allies, a cautious rapprochement has evolved since 1999, when both countries were stricken by earthquakes and rushed to each other's aid.