Cyprus: Denktas Is One Step Ahead
The situation was summarized by Turkish PM Mehmet Ali Talat after yesterday’s talks: “We had a mutual feeling of powers, and our wish was fulfilled. Greek Cypriots attempted to prolong the talks to after May1, but our desire was fulfilled. Talks will be concluded by May 1. A settlement is a must, for the parties.”
According to diplomatic sources, the process proposed by the surprise offer of Turkey can be summarized as follows:
• Parties will go on with the talks without any interruption because of disagreements, until March 20.
• Ankara and Athens will take action to solve the problematic issues besides Greek and Turkish Cyprus.
• The text, which will result from these talks, and the points, on which the parties cannot agree, will be submitted to Annan on March 26.
• With his quality of bona fide mediator, Annan will complete the text, including those points on which parties disagreed, until March 31, which is the last date proposed in the calendar of Annan as the deadline for agreement. Therefore, the arbitration of Annan on the problematic points will be accepted.
Ankara, that took one step ahead of the Greek side with this proposal, which is in line with the spirit of the Annan Plan, did not disclose its view about submitting the plan to a referendum on April 21 yet. A high-ranking official confirmed the existence of such a proposal, which, as Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan argued previously, proved to the whole world that the Turkish side would always be one step ahead of the Greek side.
The same official said, “With this offer, we aimed at preventing Greeks from undermining the negotiation process in a way to suspend it until after May 1. We are awaiting for their response at the moment.”
On the other hand, Greek Cyprus, which will automatically become a member of EU on May 1, negatively approaches to the idea of the arbitration of Annan. They are afraid of losing at the negotiation table what they have gained so far.
