THE GREEK THORN

The reason is that Greece, Hungary and Slovenia don’t accept the insurance policy drawn up in Turkey, citing the fact that it doesn’t accept Southern Cyprus. New insurance policies including the Greek Cypriot part have to be prepared. Moreover, the label ‘Republic of Cyprus’ will be used instead of ‘Greek Cypriot side.’ The International Foundation of Transporters is linking this to ‘Greece’s and the Greek Cypriot side’s efforts to move developments from the economic realm to the political one.’ It’s right.

Greek Cypriot administration leader Tassos Papadopoulos started the ball rolling by saying, ‘Turkey won’t be able to establish good relations with the EU unless it improves its relations with Cyprus.’ The Greek Cypriot foreign minister was even more blunt: ‘I believe that Turkey will very soon consider recognizing the Republic of Cyprus. Turkey has signed the Customs Union with the EU. Ankara’s not recognizing the Republic of Cyprus will cause problems, as we’ll see very soon.’ Evaluating the recent situation in Cyprus, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, ‘We’ve moved the game into their end zone. We aren’t the ones who have to protect our goal post. Of course the game should be played on the field and the referee must manage it fairly.’ Erdogan again stressed the principle of fair play, but the other side is reluctant to stop fouling. It’s also evident that the referees aren’t being impartial. I don’t know whether Erdogan’s reproach will influence our neighbor during his visit to Greece starting tomorrow, but in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Premier Mehmet Ali Talat’s words, ‘Turkey will recognize the Greek Cypriot side. It has no other choice…’ The business world has already prepared itself for this, as we see in Mersin’s Chamber of Trade declaring Southern Cyprus a ‘target country’ for exports.”