premise: If they fail to reach a unanimous decision, the issue is expected to go on the agenda of an EU summit three days later.
  Merkel wants the EU to give Turkey an 18-month deadline to open its ports to Cyprus as a condition for resuming full membership talks.
  Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said the German proposal would make things worse.
  "With the Commission's recommendations unacceptable as they are, such a proposal will make things even worse," Gul said after talks here with his Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt.
  "It would have a very negative impact on the negotiation process... (but) I do not believe that this will happen," he said.
   What can Turkey and Cyprus do to increase the odds that their dispute will go on the agenda for the EU summit?
hypothesis: fail to reach a unanimous decision