Turkish Republic of N. Cyprus PM sets off for landmark US visit

The pro-settlement Turkish Cypriot premier is "programmed" to meet with American Secretary of State Colin Powell. The meeting will be the first-ever between a Turkish Cypriot prime minister and an American secretary of state since the 1983 proclamation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC).

"Secretary Powell will hold a meeting with the leader of the Turkish-Cypriot community, Mehmet Ali Talat, on Tuesday, May 4, at the United Nations headquarters," the State Department said in a statement.

A senior American State Department official said the face-to-face Powell-Talat talks — on the sidelines of a meeting of the international diplomatic quartet on the Middle East — will mark a "significant" departure from past U.S. policy toward the KKTC.

The meeting comes as Washington considers granting de facto recognition to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) to reward Turkish Cypriots for voting "yes" in a referendum on an American and European Union-supported U.N. settlement plan, that failed because of a massive 75 percent "oxi" (no in Greek) vote.

"This will be a significant thing for the Turkish Cypriots," the official said.

"It’s indicative of our desire to continue to build relationships with the Turkish-Cypriot community, recognizing that they voted in favor of the referendum and that Talat played an important and positive role in that matter," a U.S. official said of the meeting.

Talat "played an important and positive role in campaigning and supporting the referendum and negotiating it despite the opposition of (Turkish Cypriot President Rauf) Denktas," the official said.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher also suggested that a meeting between Powell and Talat would be in keeping with the U.S. intent to ease the isolation of Turkish Cypriots following the Greek-Cypriot rejection of the U.N. peace plan.

The Greek Cypriots’ "oxi" effectively killed a settlement on the island and prevented EU accession of a reunified Cyprus. On Saturday only the Greek Cypriot side of the island, though they rejected the settlement plan, was rewarded with unilateral EU accession while the Turkish Cypriot side that overwhelmingly voted for a resolution to the 40-year problem, was left in the cold.

The United States joined the European Union in supporting the U.N. unification plan and has been coordinating its policies toward the Turkish sector with the EU.

The EU said on Thursday it will provide $311 million in assistance to the Turkish Cypriots. U.S. officials, asking not to be identified, said the United States is also considering an assistance program, using a portion of a $400 million pledge that would have been earmarked for the island had the referendum been approved by both sectors.

The United States and European Union have also been searching for ways to reward the Turkish Cypriots, including easing trade sanctions that were imposed after Turkey intervened in the island in 1974 following a Greek-inspired coup.

"We’re reviewing the full range of our policies" toward the KKTC, Boucher told reporters. "We would expect to take steps that are similar and consistent with the actions that our European colleagues are taking."

The Turkish Cypriot state, recognized only by Turkey, was proclaimed in 1983, nine years after Cyprus was divided when Turkish troops intervened in the north following an Athens-backed coup on the island by Greek Cypriot supporters of union with Greece. Since then, with the exception of a brief meeting between Denktas and former secretary of state James Baker in 1991 only low and mid-level U.S. officials have met with Turkish-Cypriot leaders.

Tom Weston, the U.S. special envoy for Cyprus, has routinely held meetings with Turkish Cypriots. But the United States generally has kept its diplomatic distance from the Turkish diplomats, extending diplomatic recognition to the Greek Cypriot government in Nicosia.

Powell has not met a senior Turkish Cypriot official before.

American officials, ruling out according a formal recognition to the Turkish Cypriot state said Washington might match the last step by offering the KKTC de facto diplomatic recognition under which it would enjoy a status similar to that the United States now accords Taiwan.

The American House of Representatives, meanwhile, will start a process on a draft presented by a group of representatives led by Ed Whitfield, to bring an end to the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot people.

Talat opposes fresh talks on UN plan
In another development, Turkish Cypriot Premier Talat, in remarks over the weekend, said he remained committed to resolving the division of Cyprus, but firmly brushed aside possibility of immediately renewing talks on the U.N. peace plan.

"I do not find it right to re-negotiate the plan. It has been negotiated more than enough and the conjuncture has also changed," Talat said, brushing aside suggestions from Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos that Cyprus talks could be resumed.

Papadopoulos, backed by Greece, had said the plan was still on the table and there were efforts to make it more acceptable to his people.

Talat said it was not possible for him to agree to a new negotiation process.

"This amounts to making fun of the world, making fun of the United Nations and looking down on the Turkish Cypriots" who approved the plan in twin referenda on both sides of the island, Talat said.

"It is not possible for us to accept such a thing," he added

He urged caution on the possibility of holding a second referendum on the U.N. blueprint, which envisaged re-stitching the island in a loose federation.

"A second referendum could affect the resolution of the Cyprus problem very very badly and maybe forever because the prospects of a solution would collapse with a second ‘no’," Talat said.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said U.N. efforts to reunify the island were over for now after last week’s Greek Cypriot rejection.