The End Of The Road In Cyprus

At this point there is a heated debate going on as to whether Turkey should show up to attend the occasion. Certain circles contend that being there on that day will amount to our eventually recognizing Greek Cyprus. I don’t quite agree. As you may remember, Turkey invited the Greek Cypriot administration to a 1999 meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Istanbul. There were similar concerns then, too. Yet, at that time, it was largely concluded that inviting Greek Cyprus to the conference would not mean recognizing it. After all it’s up to Ankara and Ankara alone to change its mind on the issue and recognize a country which is already recognized by the world. That’s why attending Wednesday’s meeting would make no difference.

The crux of the problem lies in Turkey’s stance on Cyprus’ EU membership. Ankara opposes Cyprus’ EU accession before any resolution is reached on the island. But if Turkey decides to pursue a line of crisis politics on the problem, then there is a need for an overall change in Turkey’s relations with Europe, which would then be exclusively focused on the Cyprus issue. If that happens then Turkey should not participate in any future meetings of the EU, of which Greek Cyprus will be a part next year. All in all, this is a matter of choice for Turkey: either to burn our bridges with the EU or continue pushing for membership in the Union. We are standing at a point where we have to clarify our priorities.

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION