Al-Ahram Weekly | International

		8 - 14 August 2002 Issue No. 598 International	Current issue Previous issue Site map
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Recommend this page

Aiming at Europe
As Cyprus inches closer to EU membership, Turkey is trying not to be left out in the cold, Michael Jansen reports from Nicosia

Cypriots on both sides of the Green Line are closely watching developments in Ankara and trying to gauge how these events will impact United Nations (UN)-brokered talks on a political settlement for the divided island. The surprise adoption on 2 August by the Turkish parliament of a package of legislative measures, required by the European Union (EU) for the opening of accession talks with Ankara, has boosted Turkey's prospects of eventually entering the EU.
Cypriot optimists argue that if Turkey is serious about entering the EU, it could decide to take a more constructive position in the deadlocked talks. Ultimately, Turkey will not be able to join if its troops continue to occupy the northern 37 per cent of the island. However, optimists claim that Ankara will become more flexible when negotiations between President Glafkos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash resume on 27 August. Denktash will also have an opportunity to demonstrate his good intentions when he and Clerides meet with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 6 September.
Pessimists believe that since Ankara has met some of the EU's conditions for launching accession talks, it can afford to maintain its hard-line position on the Cyprus issue. They argue that this issue will not serve as an obstruction to Turkey's entry into the EU.
Only a few hours before Turkey's parliament passed its landmark EU reform package, Clerides and Denktash ended their last round of discussions as far apart as ever. Denktash stated that the two leaders remained diametrically opposed. But, he also said that it was possible they would "bring forward something more substantive" after the extended break in talks.
The UN's envoy, Alvaro de Soto, who is mediating the talks, put on an air of professional optimism -- stating he was "disappointed" over the persistent deadlock, but that he still believed the two sides could crack the core issues: constitution, territory, property and security before December. In December the EU is set to approve the candidacy of Cyprus, and other fast track nations, for admission to the bloc in 2004/2005. "I am optimistic because I think it's feasible. I believe it's in everybody's interest [to achieve a settlement], not just on the island but in the region as a whole."
The EU is in a tenuous situation. Turkey has threatened to annex the north if Cyprus enters the EU before a political settlement is reached. But Athens has warned Brussels that rejecting or postponing Cyprus's entry because of Turkey's objections would force Greece to veto the entire expansion process. Both Ankara and Athens have stated they are prepared to go to war over Cyprus.
The prospects for a settlement are not good. From 15 July through 16 August, Greek and Turkish Cypriots commemorate the anniversaries of the events of 1974 which led to the division of the island. Greek Cypriots celebrated the 15 July coup, mounted by Athens against former Cypriot President Archbishop Makarios. And Turkish Cypriots celebrated the 20 July landings of Turkish troops on the northern coast which led to the conquest of the north. Turkish F-16 warplanes staged a fly-over while mainland and Turkish Cypriot forces took part in a parade commemorating the 28th anniversary of Turkey's "Peace Operation".
In a televised address broadcast on the 19th, Clerides appealed to Turkish Cypriots to join with Greek Cypriots to "heal the wounds of the past, put aside the hatred, suspicion and the sense of insecurity that exists in both communities" and find "the right solution" to build a new future for Greek and Turkish Cypriots within a federal republic. But Denktash and Turkey's hard-line new foreign minister, Suku Sina Gurel, rejected the proffered hand. Denktash reiterated his claim that the Turkish army saved Turkish Cypriots from massacre by Greek Cypriots in 1974 (a claim disputed by Greek Cypriots). He accused the Greek Cypriots of wanting to "take our land" and repeated his demand for international recognition of the Turkish Cypriot breakaway state. Gurel said that the way to reach a solution was acceptance of this entity. This would transform the de facto partition of the island, imposed by the Turkish army, into a de jure partition and would create two sovereign states. Earlier in the week Turkish Premier Bulent Ecevit, who ordered the 1974 invasion of Cyprus, said that giving up northern Cyprus would be tantamount to ceding a part of the Turkish mainland. Not all Turkish Cypriots and Turkish mainlanders agree with this position.
In Nicosia, Mehmet Ali Talat, whose centre-left Republican Turkish Party won municipal elections in the north's three largest towns said that the two sides should reach a settlement quickly so that the Turkish Cypriots could join EU accession talks and enjoy the benefits of belonging to the union. Talat blamed Turkey for the economic disaster in the north and said that salvation could be found in EU membership. Ahmet Karaman, a columnist in the opposition Afrika newspaper, took a strong stand against the claim that the 1974 Turkish military occupation could be called a "peace operation". He said that the "operation has been continuing for 28 years", and asked, "Where is the peace?..., is this state mine? To whom do the tanks and planes...belong?"
In Ankara, Deputy Premier Mesut Yilmaz's star is rising because he engineered the passage of the legislative package demanded by the EU. A staunch critic of Ecevit's hard-line on Cyprus, Yilmaz could also press the faltering outgoing Turkish coalition to agree to the reunification of Cyprus in a bizonal, bicommunal federal republic with a single sovereignty and single international personality in accordance with the settlement formula adopted by the UN.

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