TALAT’S VIEW

For this reason, he is satisfied with carrying out work with Denktas. When I spoke to him recently, I reminded him of his words, ‘The day I become prime minister, I’ll lock Denktas in the Presidential Palace and take over the Cyprus talks,’ then asked him about the current situation. ‘What you say is true,’ he replied. ‘If I had won last year’s elections in a different way, I could have done that.’ In addition, Talat was pleased to have gone to New York alongside Denktas. However, this doesn’t mean he’s abandoned his old criticisms. For example, he still argues that last year Denktas was wrong to reject talks on UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s plan. ‘We missed this train,’ he argued.

However, Denktas is optimistic about the issue now, as he says there have been certain improvements to the plan since then. I took issue with Talat on one issue. Not just me, but also Denktas disagrees with Talat’s contention that Turks on the island should be recognized not as a people, but as a community. ‘If we talk about two different people, members of the other people can’t apply to the European Court of Human Rights [ECHR] on the grounds of unfair treatment, because one has chosen one’s own people,’ he argued. ‘However, if we talk about the concept of community, the will doesn’t belong to individuals, but rather to the state. Then it might go to court.’ I asked him if the European Union were dissolved, would it be better for Turks to be recognized as a people or community? In that case, he says, he would accept the importance of being a people. However, for now he still resists.”