Cyprus: Denktash Says EU Treaty Seals Cyprus’s Division

The internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government on Wednesday signed an accession treaty on behalf of the whole island at a summit in Athens before joining the EU in 2004.

"With this signature, Cyprus has been partitioned into two," Denktash told private news channel CNN Turk. "If they want to reunite Cyprus…we need to prepare the foundation for us to enter the EU with Turkey," he said.

Muslim Turkey aspires to join the EU, but its human rights record and slow progress on political reforms has made it the only candidate not currently in accession talks. Negotiations are now set for the end of 2004, if Turkey fulfils criteria.

Greek Cypriot membership, without the Turkish north, could raise tensions between NATO allies Greece and Turkey and severely damage Turkey’s own hopes of joining the EU.

Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974, when the Turkish military invaded the north of the island in response to a short-lived Greek Cypriot coup sponsored by the military junta then ruling Athens.

GREEK CYPRIOTS PLEDGE EFFORTS

Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos said Greek Cypriots would continue to seek a resolution of the division.

"I reiterate from this forum my firm commitment to exert every effort to achieve a peaceful, workable and viable solution to the Cyprus problem," he said at the signing ceremony.

"Accession itself does not mean we shall give up our sincere efforts to solve the problem."

He said he regretted that "artificial walls of division and the line of separation" prevented Turkish Cypriots from joining Greek Cypriots in a reunited Cyprus.

The 78-year-old Denktash has been blamed by EU diplomats for the collapse of U.N.-sponsored reunification talks. The U.N. Security Council this week said Denktash’s "negative approach" had contributed to last month’s collapse of peace talks, spearheaded by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Only Ankara recognizes Denktash’s statelet and keeps 30,000 troops in the Turkish-held north.

Turkish Cypriot sources said the meeting proposed by Simitis would take place on Saturday, most likely at the Greek embassy in Nicosia. Greece extended letters of invitation to Turkish Cypriots via the Slovak embassy in the Greek Cypriot south.

"The invitation has been extended to the leaders of all political parties…only opposition groups are attending," Denktash told reporters in the Turkish city of Bursa.

Turkish Cypriot opposition parties were heavily critical of Denktash after he failed to agree on the U.N. plan, organizing mass public demonstrations and boycotting parliament. Political parties allied to Denktash hold a majority in the parliament.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said there was nothing to stop the opposition parties attending in search of a solution but warned them not to "turn their backs on their own government and cooperate with another."