Turkey says Cyprus solution in UN

Less than 10 days before a summit of European Union leaders on Dec. 16-17, the EU has stepped up pressure on Ankara to extend diplomatic recognition to Greek Cyprus to get long-delayed accession talks started.

“The solution will be in the United Nations,” Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül said yesterday before heading to Brussels for a NATO meeting. “Recognition could come only as part of a settlement in Cyprus and there would be no recognition before a settlement.”
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan drafted a plan for the reunification of Cyprus but Greek Cypriots rejected it at a referendum on April 24. Despite their overwhelming vote against the plan, however, Greek Cypriots joined the EU on May 1, becoming one of the 25 countries that can veto EU decisions.

Annan has subsequently prepared a report calling on the Security Council to help efforts to end international isolation of the Turkish Cypriots after they voted in favor of the plan. But the report cannot move forward, rattling Ankara.
“Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) see the issue of recognition as part of a comprehensive settlement that could come out of the good-will mission of the U.N. secretary-general, and they are ready to work actively for such a settlement,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Namık Tan said at a weekly press conference yesterday.
A draft summit statement prepared by the Dutch EU presidency presupposes that Turkey will act towards recognition of Greek Cyprus before the Dec. 16-17 summit.

Ankara, on the other hand, said it was time for the EU to act, not Turkey, although it pledged to work for a settlement on the island.
“They are just seeing the tip of iceberg,” Gül said, referring to EU demands for recognition of the Greek Cypriot administration. “They don’t see the iceberg itself.”