Ankara urges resumption of Cyprus talks

Turkey’s National Security Council (MGK) met behind closed doors Friday for almost four hours to review concerted efforts at the Foreign Ministry on changes Ankara wants to see in the U.N. plan for a Cyprus settlement, reiterating hours later in a written statement that Turkey wants "in good faith" a resumption of the Cyprus talks with a view towards reaching a "just and lasting" settlement on Cyprus that will protect the rights and interests of the Turkish Cypriot people.

"A consensus has been reached on the need and necessity of the resumption of the Cyprus talks," the statement said.

It said Turkey and President Rauf Denktas and the new coalition government led by Republican Turks’ Party (CTP) leader Mehmet Ali Talat would continue to seek a Cyprus resolution "in close cooperation."

Contrary to earlier media speculation, well-placed sources said "only one presentation" was made on the Cyprus issue at the MGK meeting, during which the situation in northern Iraq was also extensively discussed.

"Turkey continues its support for the good offices of the U.N. secretary- general and confirms its committment for the achievement of a settlement on the island based on the Annan plan and the realities of the island through negotiations," said the written statement from the MGK, a body bringing together the president, prime minister, chief of general staff, foreign, defense and interior ministers and all four force commanders of the Turkish Armed Forces.

As the MGK — once an all-powerful body that has become a totally "advisory body" after a set of reforms legislated by Turkey in its drive to conform to the Copenhagen political criteria before opening accession talks with the European club of democracies — issued its written statement on Friday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was on his way to the Swiss winter sports resort town of Davos to meet with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meetings.

After concluding his meeting with Annan and delivering a speech at the closing session of the World Economic Forum meeting, Erdogan will return to Ankara Saturday evening for a Sunday meeting with Turkish Cypriot President Rauf Denktas, who will arrive in the Turkish capital this afternoon for a meeting with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok in advance of his meeting with the Turkish premier.

Diplomatic sources said Erdogan, who will be leaving Sunday afternoon for his first-ever official visit to the United States as the Turkish prime minister, may have a second meeting in New York with Annan on the way to Washington "pending the outcome" of both his first meeting with Annan and his ensuing discussions with Denktas. The Turkish premier is scheduled to have a meeting with President George W. Bush at the White House on Jan. 28. The U.S. president will host Erdogan at a luncheon after the meeting, an indication of the "high importance" attached to the meeting by Bush, diplomatic sources said.

According to diplomatic sources, if satisfied with the outcome of his meeting with Erdogan, the U.N. chief may call for a resumption of the Cyprus peace process in the first week of February.

One of Annan’s key demands before calling for the resumption of talks is the agreement of the two sides on the island to submit the U.N. blueprint to separate and simultaneous referenda before May 1 "irrespective of the outcome of their discussions."

Both Denktas and Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos as well as Ankara and Athens, however, assert that the decision of when to refer the document to separate referenda of the two peoples of Cyprus must be "mutually decided [upon]" by the two sides on the island. Furthermore, both of the sides stress that if the views of the two sides remain far apart, they cannot allow Annan to "fill in the blanks" himself and complete an accord to be addressed on separate referenda.

Talking with the Turkish Daily News in Athens earlier this week, a senior aide of Greek prime minister-in-waiting, current Foreign Minister Andreas Papandreou, said the sides may launch a "joint initiative" to convince Annan to drop his referendum condition.

In an interview, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he saw "optimistic signals" from both sides that they were ready to break the decades-old diplomatic deadlock. Diplomatic sources said at his meeting with Bush, Erdogan may ask the U.S. president to advise Annan not to insist on the referendum for the resumption of the talks.

Turkey has been under intense pressure from both the EU, to which it has been aspiring to join, and its key ally, the United States, for a breakthrough to the longstanding dispute.

Time is running out for a settlement between Cyprus’ estranged Greek and Turkish communities. The internationally recognized Greek Cypriot side enters the EU on May 1, and a divided Cyprus in the EU threatens to cement the island’s partition and derail Muslim Turkey’s bid to join the bloc.

A new Turkish Cypriot administration led by the Republican Turks’ Party (CTP) a supporter of the U.N. peace plan, has raised hopes that talks may be resumed. The EU said it was convinced there was a chance of a deal soon that would boost Turkey’s own EU membership bid.

In an interview published Friday in Germany’s Stuttgarter Zeitung newspaper, Annan said for the first time in months he saw a glimmer of hope for progress. "Last year we did not succeed in setting aside the differences of opinion on both sides," Annan told the newspaper. "We failed back then. Now I am hearing optimistic signals from both sides. As U.N. secretary-general, I am happy to help moderate."

EU Commissioner for Enlargement Guenter Verheugen also shared the view that there was now a window of opportunity for a Cyprus solution. "The status quo would damage everyone, whereas solution of the Cyprus problem would be a clear win-win situation — for Cyprus, Greece, Turkey and Europe as a whole. … It is now time for action," he wrote in Britain’s Financial Times.

Negotiations between Greek and Turkish Cypriots collapsed last March when Annan failed to secure agreement on a reunification blueprint designed to ensure that a united Cyprus joins the EU this May 1.