ANKARA (Reuters) -- Turkey, facing serious trouble in its European Union accession talks, said that a deadline set by current EU president Finland for a deal on trade with Cyprus was blackmail.

The EU wants Turkey to open its ports to shipping from EU member Cyprus, but Ankara says the bloc must first lift trade restrictions against breakaway Turkish Cypriots it backs in the north of the divided Mediterranean island.

Finland wants a deal before a European Commission meeting on Dec. 6 and does not want the issue to go to an EU summit on Dec. 14-15. Brussels has warned Turkey of unspecified consequences if it failed to open its ports before the end of the year.

"Don't give such a date to this work, (this is) blackmail... You cannot do this with such things," Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters.

"The Finnish presidency (of the EU) is making efforts (to solve the problem), we too support those efforts," he added.

Diplomats and analysts say the EU is likely to agree a partial suspension of Turkey's negotiations in the likely event of its continued non-compliance on the ports issue. Asked if Turkey has a "plan B" for dealing with the crisis, Gul said: "The talks are continuing."

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan echoed Gul's comments, signaling that Turkey could not change its stance. Erdogan's centre-right AK Party faces a strong nationalist challenge in elections due next year.

The Turkish lira currency fell one percent against the dollar to around 1.46 on concerns over Ankara's EU bid and analysts expected further losses in coming days.

Britain, one of Turkey's strongest backers, called on all parties to work day in, day out, to reach a deal.

"But obviously the rules that apply to the European Union must be adhered to. We know what the difficulty is, we know what the challenge is we've got to find a way around it," British Prime Minister Tony Blair told a new conference with Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis after they held talks in London.

"We should try and create a different atmosphere and a different climate around this negotiation to try and get the outstanding issues resolved which allow Turkey to move forward but allow the rules of the European Union to be kept," he said.

French President Jacques Chirac touched on the problems of convincing public opinion of the benefits of continued EU enlargement during talks in Paris on Tuesday with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

France is in the skeptical camp regarding Turkey's bid to join the EU.

Ankara began entry talks last year but they are expected to last many years.