THE GREEK CYPRIOTS’ STANCE

However, the Greek Cypriots should be watched closely. Yesterday’s meetings showed that the Greek Cypriot administration doesn’t want to accept that there are two nations on the island. They reject the approach of two different sovereign nations consisting of the Turkish and Greek Cypriots. The Greek Cypriots’ stance takes two founding nations as a basis. Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas has said openly that Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos is digging in his heels on this issue. This signals that the principles of strengthening bizonality and taking two equal sovereign nations as a basis, considered sine qua nons by Denktas and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will be rejected. At least it seems no result will emerge with just the TRNC and Greek Cyprus talking. Would the situation change if Turkey and Greece get involved after March 22?

We’ll see then. However, clearly the Greek Cypriot administration won’t accept any solution fitting Turkey’s suggestions before May 1. After this stage, it seems Ankara is hopeful about pressure coming from the EU. Erdogan has laid out three key conditions for Ankara, namely strengthening bizonality, Turkey’s guarantorship, and a straight border. He emphasized that failure to implement these might cause problems. According to the New York agreement from earlier this month, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will lay things down from now on. A referendum will be held on the basis of a text determined by him. If Ankara doesn’t favor the current shape of the plan and attaches great importance to the sine qua nons, it should move quickly so serious pressure and sanctions can be put on the Greek Cypriots. Otherwise they won’t accept Turkey’s sine qua nons. For this reason, Ankara should stand with Denktas, not against him, in order to push the Turkish side’s suggestions.”