Turkey’s Gul:No Recognition without Cyprus Solution

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul sent the following message to Europe during a visit to Slovenia yesterday: "There will be no recognition without a solution in Cyprus." Gul spoke to journalists after meeting with Slovenian Foreign Minister Ivo Vajgel. Gul said: "Our opinion on Cyprus is quite clear. There is no solution yet." Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, appeared on NTV television saying that Turkey has taken the required steps on the Cyprus issue. "After all that has happened, the EU cannot impose any new requirements on us. It is not our focal point to take a step on this before December 17th."

The EU Term President, the Netherlands, has prepared an agenda draft for the December 17th Summit, which was leaked to the press. The draft suggests that Turkey should provide de facto recognition of the Greek Cypriot administration. Denmark’s Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said yesterday that Turkey could not start membership negotiations without recognizing the Greek Cypriot administration. When Erdogan was asked what Turkey’s response would be if this requirement was included in the final resolution of the EU summit, Erdogan replied: "No one should act on a policy to corner Turkey, we will not accept this." The Prime Minister pointed out that despite all the negativities, Turkey made the required gesture and approved Greek Cypriot membership in the Customs Union (CU). When asked where the next initiative to solve the Cyprus issue will come from next year, the Prime Minister said: "We will continue our struggle for a solution on the Cyprus issue; we will be in search of it. Who knows? When the time comes, there may be some surprises."

Erdogan described the latest developments as opportunism and recalled the referendum on the Annan Plan in Cyprus on April 24th 2004. He said that the Turkish side voted ‘yes’ to the plan and was supported by the EU, but the Greek side rejected it. He continued: "Despite this, the Greek Cypriot side became a full member of the EU on May 1st. This contradicts the Copenhagen Criteria. They promised that within two days the isolation policies against the north would change, but there has been no progress." The Prime Minister noted that they expect to start membership negotiations in the first half of 2005.