Ankara’s ‘Cyprus move’ next week

On Monday, the Cabinet will take up the "Position of the Turkish Side" study conducted by the Foreign Ministry on the changes Ankara wants to see in the Annan plan. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer will then be briefed on the paper.

Gul: Process continues
After briefing Erdogan Tuesday on the paper, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said: "Nothing has been concluded. The process will continue." According to Gul, the process will be complete only after the Cabinet meets over the plan on Monday and the issue is taken up later next week with President Sezer. Gul also stressed that there would also be a meeting on the position paper with President Rauf Denktas and leaders of the parties in the Turkish Cypriot Republican Assembly.

While a senior official at the Foreign Ministry was quoted by the semi-official Anatolia news agency as denying reports that the military was unhappy with the paper prepared and that it wanted the issue be taken up at an emergency meeting of the National Security Council (MGK), Gul said the position paper had been prepared by the Foreign Ministry in consultation with the Office of the Chief of General Staff.

Whether the president will hold a Cyprus summit participated in by the prime minister, foreign minister and chief of general staff as expected or the final decision on the position paper will be made at an MGK meeting remains uncertain. However, the government is insisting on a "state summit" while the military is reportedly stressing that rather than an unbinding political decision adopted on Cyprus at a Cankaya summit, the MGK should handle the issue and decide on a "state policy" binding upon the government and all organs of the state.

Diplomatic sources in Ankara commented that Prime Minister Erdogan, scheduled to meet in Washington on Jan. 28 with President George Bush, wanted "concrete action" to be taken towards resumption of the Cyprus talks even if they had not yet resumed.

He said Turkey wanted a resumption of the Cyprus talks and believed that the talks should resume on the basis of the Annan plan. "Our government has the will for a resumption of the Cyprus talks," he said. The foreign minister said Turkey "considered appropriate" the resumption of the Cyprus peace talks and that the work at the Foreign Ministry was intended to transform the Annan plan into an acceptable document.

"What’s important is that the Annan plan needs to be made an acceptable document, and the work to that end is being continued in consultation [with the military]," he said.

"I hope when the talks resume, the position of the Turkish side can clearly emerge," he said.

The foreign minister also brushed aside speculation in the media that Ankara was bypassing President Rauf Denktas of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC). He said the Cyprus issue was a "national issue" that should not be "reported on with unconfirmed hearsay."

He said that after the Cabinet and President Sezer were informed about the work of the Foreign Ministry on the changes Ankara wanted in the Annan plan, the paper prepared will then be taken up at a meeting with President Denktas and leaders of the political parties in northern Cyprus.