It’s time to act on Cyprus

The call of the two leaders came as anticipation was building that a statement to be released after the three-day Istanbul meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) would upgrade reference to the Turkish Cypriot people from the "Muslim community of Cyprus" to the "Turkish state of Cyprus."

Turkey, President Sezer declared in opening the three-day meeting of OIC foreign ministers, hoped the OIC would back the lifting of all international sanctions against the Turkish Cypriots following an April 24 referendum in which the an overwhelming majority of Turkish Cypriots backed a U.N. plan to reunite the island. The settlement plan was scuppered by a more than 75 percent vote of rejection by the Greek Cypriots.

Stresing that he was confident the Islamic world would not fall behind the international community and would extend a "hand in friendship and cooperation" to their Muslim brothers in northern Cyprus, Sezer said a new state of affairs had been created on the eastern Mediterranean island with the overwhelming Turkish Cypriot acceptance of the U.N. settlement plan and its massive rejection by the Greek Cypriots.

"The Turkish Cypriot people are waiting to integrate with the international community in accordance with the new reality on the island, which can be seen by everyone," he said.

Sezer said the Turkish Cypriot people should not be the victims of a situation they were not responsible for and recalled that in his May 28, 2004 report to the Security Council U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed for an end to all international restrictions and embargoes on the KKTC.

The president said the assumption that U.N. resolutions were preventing contact with the Turkish Cypriots had been totally invalidated by the secretary-general himself.

Foreign Abdullah Minister Gul, as well, appealed to his Islamic counterparts, stressing that with Annan’s May report to the Security Council on the United Nations’ latest four-and-a-half-year effort to bring about a Cyprus settlement it has become evident that it was high time for the international community in general and the Islamic world in particular to terminate all sanctions and embargoes on the Turkish Cypriot state.

Gul said while the April referenda results demonstrated to the international community the commitment of the Turkish Cypriot people to a negotiated compromise settlement, it also showed the world that the Greek Cypriot side did not want a resolution on the island. He said the international community has been praising the determination and commitment of the Turkish Cypriots to a settlement on Cyprus while condemning the disinterest of the Greek Cypriots in resolving the more than four-decade-old problem.

He said the visit to northern Cyprus by outgoing OIC Secretary-General Abdulvahid Belkeziz was a timely and important trip.

The foreign minister said Turkey expected the Istanbul meeting of the OIC foreign ministers be an occasion for bringing the isolation of the KKTC to an end.

The outgoing OIC secretary-general, in his address to the meeting, also called for an end to the international isolation of the Turkish Cypriot state and appealed the international community to initiate direct contact with the KKTC.

Turkish Cypriot Foreign Minister Serdar Denktas, the son of President Rauf Denktas, meanwhile said an upgrading of the status of the KKTC representation at OIC meetings from the "Muslim community of Cyprus" to the "Turkish Cypriot state" would be an important "first step" in bringing an end to the international isolation of his state.

Although Turkey has not officially appealed to the Islamic countries that they extend formal recognition to the Turkish Cypriot state or attempted to persuade the OIC countries to extend full diplomatic recognition to the KKTC, a well-placed diplomatic source said a draft statement to be released at the end of the meeting on Wednesday could open a new era on Cyprus.

"The draft statement carries very good developments for the KKTC," said Ekmelleddin Ihsanoglu, Turkey’s candidate for the prestigious post of OIC secretary-general. Without further elaborating, he said the draft statement was "very satisfactory for Turkey."

Ihsanoglu said since "it is not on Turkey’s agenda anyhow," recognition of the KKTC by the OIC member countries was not an issue under consideration, but he was confident that the wording of the reference to the Turkish Cypriot people would be a satisfactory one for both Ankara and northern Cyprus.

Only Turkey recognizes the KKTC, while most countries recognize the Greek Cypriot administration, which joined the EU on May 1 as the "sole legitimate government" of the island of Cyprus.