Today we lose a little more of Cyprus

Furthermore, he will have achieved that without making any concessions in return.

Even more curious is the fact that Papadopoulos has got rid of the Annan Plan — which he had not wanted since the very beginning — without coming to any harm. In other words, due to the Turkish side’s failure to play the game skillfully, due to the Turkish side’s resisting all the time, he is now in a position to have a say on the entire Cyprus without paying the price that would have entailed.

Let us not deceive ourselves.

The spot reached today constitutes a success for the policies conducted to date by the Greeks and the Greek Cypriots.

However vigorously we may argue that the North belongs to us, claim that the KKTC is an independent Turkish territory, the EU will consider it answerable to the Greek Cypriots.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Cypriot people will continue to live, waiting for the money to be transferred from Ankara, becoming impoverished with every passing day. It is a strong possibility that one day they will reach the end of their patience and they will explode, having a reckoning with somebody, demanding an explanation for the situation they have been pushed into.

We have tried to play our cards in an exaggerated manner
Last year when the Annan Plan was announced Turkey held extremely valuable cards in its hands. Since then it managed to bring about extremely important changes in the plan in line with the objections it had sought. Though that was not the ideal solution the final version of the plan had reached an “acceptable stage”.

However, saying, “Everything must be the way I want,” the kind of approach hardly acceptable in an international bargaining process, has been displayed. Those who govern Turkey have tried to “sell for a price well above their worth” the cards they held in their hands.

When the Iraq bargaining process began we took an even more rigid stance in Cyprus. We thought that the USA would not be able to initiate a war in Iraq without our support. We were swept away by the pipe dream that we had very powerful trump cards and that we would be able to make Washington do anything we want on the Cyprus issue.

We challenged the world, saying, “If the Greek Cypriots joined the EU unilaterally we would give them a hard time. We, in turn, would become integrated with Northern Cyprus.”

Our calculations have all been proven wrong.

Today we have no major bargaining chips left in our hands. Yet we are still seeking consolation in the slogan, “Cyprus is Turkish and it will remain Turkish.”

Everybody is responsible for this outcome
We all are responsible for the way things have reached this spot. The president has viewed this issue purely from a legal standpoint. General Staff officials have mainly hardened their stance. A few key diplomats at the Foreign Ministry wrote disaster scenarios.

We are back to square one
First the UN Security Council took a decision. It became obvious that the Annan Plan — something both Denktas and Papadopoulos were trying to get rid of — was still on the table. Despite all the lobbying they did at the UN, neither the Greek Cypriots nor the Turkish Cypriots managed to bury the Annan Plan. Then the UN Security Council took a further step, leaving the leading role to the EU for a Cyprus solution.

Then the EU-Turkey Association Council meeting was held in Luxembourg yesterday. All of a sudden we saw that the Cyprus problem is still there, that it remains as one of the major obstacles on the path of the Turkey-EU relations.

During the meeting, during private talks and in the final press release, the same all vicious circle became all the more evident.

Turkey says, “First you give Turkey a date for the start of the accession talks. Then it would be easier to reach a solution in Cyprus.”

The EU, on the other hand, is saying, “You bring about a Cyprus solution by the end of 2004. Then it would be easier for us to initiate the accession talks with Turkey.”

This deadlock must not continue. Cyprus must not obstruct Turkey’s EU path.

Turkey must not be the only party that is held responsible for this situation.

It is high time Ankara decided on what it wants to do regarding Cyprus. Similarly, Greek Cypriots must take into consideration the Turkish side’s sensitivities on the Cyprus issue. They too must flash the green light for a solution.

If we cannot manage to do that the next few years will be full of “negative things” for both the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots.