Crisis of Civilizations – OIC-EU joint forum

Ismail Cem, who was foreign minister at that time, placed great importance on that meeting.

As a result of the efforts of Athens and the Greek Cypriots, however, the second joint forum faces a delay. The reason is that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is also invited. The Greek Cypriots wanted to prevent the TRNC’s attendance at the first meeting too, but in the end nothing changed and Turkish Cypriots went ahead and represented the TRNC. The same thing applies now.

This case, however, is different from that at the first meeting, because the representation of the Turkish Cypriots in the OIC has changed. After the Greek Cypriots rejected the UN plan to unify the island while the Turkish Cypriots accepted it, the OIC recognized ‘The Turkish Cypriot State,’ which they had previously called ‘The Turkish Muslim Cypriot Society.’ Athens and the Greek Cypriot government see this as a green light for recognition of the TRNC and so have applied diplomatic pressure on Brussels.

Greek and Greek Cypriot efforts to use the Cyprus issue against Turkey have been effective before a critical turning for Turkey. The campaign almost flared up into a crisis. Bernard Bot, foreign minister of the Netherlands, which currently holds the EU term presidency, called Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul to request that the TRNC not be invited to the forum, saying that its participation would be unacceptable. Greece is pressing for a delay of the meeting, and many EU countries are leaning towards not being represented at the joint forum. Ankara isn’t retreating. Gul has repeatedly said that as Greek Cyprus is attending as the ‘Republic of Cyprus,’ the TRNC’s participation doesn’t amount to its recognition. The EU has gotten caught in a huge contradiction. Didn’t TRNC Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat give a speech to the European Council?

The first OIC-EU joint forum was an effective response to those who claimed a ‘clash of civilizations’ after the September 11 attacks. The crisis around the second forum is signaling that the Cyprus problem will heat up in the coming months. This approach will not only encourage distrust between Turkey and the EU, but also strengthen the credibility of claims of a ‘clash of civilizations’ among Muslim countries, which agree that the Turkish states should be represented.”