WHAT A SHAME!

So the Greek Cypriots seemed to say yes to Annan’s plan but then changed their mind and thus deceived Verheugen. I wonder if this is the case. Maybe the Greek Cypriots think that it’s Verheugen who deceived them. Maybe Verheugen is the one who didn’t keep his promises. For example, they were offended by Verheugen’s failure to deliver the Turkish Cypriot Karpaz Peninsula to them. They didn’t find it enough when he told the Turkish delegation in Switzerland, ‘You will give Karpaz. Karpaz belongs to the Greek Cypriots.’ Or they didn’t find his statement sufficiently partial: ‘If the ruling party wins the [December 2003] elections in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus [TRNC], we won’t consider it valid but if the opposition party wins, we would consider it legal.’ Verheugen doesn’t have the right to be offended by the Greek Cypriots.

Under Verheugen’s leadership, the EU guaranteed the Greek Cypriot administration that it would become an EU member on May 1 whatever the outcome of the Cyprus issue, and confirmed this at every stage of the negotiations. However, it always threatened Ankara and the Turkish side by saying, ‘If you don’t accept Annan’s plan, Turkey won’t get a date for talks for EU membership. The embargo on the TRNC will continue and it will be sorry.’ On the other hand, they told the Greek Cypriots, ‘You can rest easy. You will be an EU member on May 1 even if there’s no deal.’ So there was no need for the Greek Cypriots to seek a deal. Now they’re continuing to take what they want from the EU and the UN until the very last minute.

The EU is now trying to benefit from Turkey’s difficult situation. Ankara accepted all this in order to get a date from the EU. However, the Greek Cypriot side doesn’t have to accept any conditions under the membership guarantee. That’s why it’s behaving arrogantly. This opportunity was provided by the EU and Verheugen, and the same Verheugen is now offended by the Greek Cypriots. What a shame!”