Cyprus and the US once again

Until now, neither our government nor Talat has said anything to dismiss that statement. Are we to understand Weston’s statement as reflecting our opinion?

While this U.S. intervention is embarrassing, there is also the problem of it being unfair and useless. We see that the U.S. opinion that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon could not be forced to talk to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat because Arafat does not condemn the bombing attacks of the second intifada is not producing any results in Israel. Palestinians seem more supportive of Arafat. The lesson to be learned: You can’t choose between the sides in a conflict.

The second problem is the reason behind the U.S. support for Talat. Weston, in the same speech, said the fact that the Turkish Cypriots did not demand international recognition was very encouraging. From this, we can, once again, presume that Talat does not want international recognition.

The third problem is about the election of the leader of the Turkish community on Cyprus. The treaties of 1960 had accepted the Turkish Cypriots as a distinct community. The leader of the community was Fazik Kucuk. When negotiations between communities started in 1968, current KKTC President Denktas attended the meetings as the community’s leader. After the intervention of 1974 and the foundation of the KKTC in 1983, the leader of the community became synonymous with the presidency. Prime ministers were never considered the leaders of the community. This historic and traditional concept cannot be changed, just because the United States wants it so. If Talat accepts this post that the United States has given him without any argument, he will have nothing to say when they hand the post over to someone else in the future. Of course, the same is true for the Turkish government.

The Cyprus problem is like a ticking bomb that will go off in December 2004, when the European Union will consider giving Turkey a date to start membership negotiations at a summit. Some larger EU countries say that the Turkish side did everything it could on the issue of Cyprus and add that Cyprus (or the Southern Cyprus Greek Cypriot government) will not be able to stop Turkey from getting a date. However, every EU member, in accordance with the Luxembourg Clause, has the right to veto everything it deems is against its national interests. Moreover, the Greek Cypriot government led by Tassos Papadopoulos is openly saying that they would use their right to veto if the Turkish side doesn’t accept their demands.

The Greek attitude of support for Turkey’s membership voiced by Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis during Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit seems to be based on their expectations on the issue of the Aegean Sea. A Greek Cypriot veto against a membership negotiation timetable being enough to derail everything nullifies the Greek vote, anyway.

Greece, before becoming a member, promised the then European Community that its membership would not affect bilateral relations between Turkey and the community. When it became a member, it not only prevented the convening of a proper Partnership Council meeting, it also stopped Turkey from getting any financial assistance. Despite Turkish opposition, the European Community officials just told us that promises did not carry any weight.

If the larger EU countries don’t formulate a special mechanism to pressure Greek Cypriots, a similar problem will arise on the issue of Cyprus. Turkey, through Greek Cypriot threats to veto the start of membership negotiations, may even be forced to make more sacrifices.

It is also seen that Papadopoulos’ suggestion that the problem could be solved without the Annan plan — only if Turkey recognized Cyprus, withdrew troops and the settlers — is now beginning to be quoted by Europeans in influential institutions like Agence Europe.

If we accept the ending of Denktas’s leadership in line with U.S. wishes and are forced to accept Papadopoulos’ suggestion through Talat’s policy of not demanding recognition in order to get a date to start membership negotiations, this will be the final strike against our Cyprus policy.

The government has to make its attitude public without delay.