Ankara opposes killing UN negotiation process in Cyprus

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Ankara opposes killing UN negotiation process in Cyprus​

All eyes will naturally be on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s upcoming visit to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), especially after Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu released a clear warning to the European partners concerning the course of affairs regarding the Cyprus conflict.

Turkey will not recognize Greek Cyprus’ presidency of the European Union, which it will assume in the middle of 2012, unless a deal to reunify the divided island is reached by that time, Davutoğlu warned on Wednesday.

Although Davutoğlu only stated the obvious, it gained wide coverage in international news since he also said Turkey-EU ties would reach a “freezing point” if Greek Cyprus assumes the presidency before any settlement allowing the Turkish community shared representation of a reunified state was reached.

“If the Greek Cypriot side stalls negotiations and takes its presidency of the European Union in July 2012, this means not only deadlock on the island, but also a block -- a freezing point in Turkey-European Union relations,” Davutoğlu said.

An obvious statement perhaps, given that Ankara does not recognize the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus (GKRY) to represent the entire island and refuses to even sit down at the same table with officials from the Greek Cypriot administration.

Even so, later on Wednesday, Turkish EU Affairs Minister Egemen Bağış clarified Davutoğlu’s remarks.

“It is an option to freeze ties with the Greek Cypriot side if they assume the presidency. We don’t have any relations with the Greek Cypriot side; we don’t recognize it, so we have no ties. I think that’s what the foreign minister meant,” Bağış elaborated.

The six-month-long rotating presidency of the 27-member bloc will be held by Denmark in the first half of 2012 and then by Greek Cyprus for the second half of the year. The Greek Cypriot side assuming the EU presidency has made the reaching of a resolution on Cyprus more urgent and vital for Ankara, since it does not accept Greek Cypriot administration on the island.

Declaration of support for UN process

In line with Ankara’s diplomatic conventions, Prime Minister Erdoğan will pay his first visit abroad as head of the new government to the KKTC.

Erdoğan’s two-day visit, which will kick off on Tuesday, will also coincide with the anniversary of a Turkish military operation in Cyprus 37 years ago. He will, therefore, attend the ceremonies to mark the 37th anniversary of the 1974 military intervention, known as the “Peace and Freedom Holiday” in the KKTC.

During his trip, Erdoğan is expected to release a strongly worded message declaring Ankara’s full-fledged support of the ongoing UN-backed negotiation process between Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, which is aimed at reunification.

Greek and Turkish Cypriots are engaged in the latest round of long-running, UN-backed talks for a reunification that has defied a solution for decades. Former Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat and Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christofias first initiated negotiations in September 2008 to find a peaceful settlement to the decades-long conflict.

However, no significant progress has been achieved thus far. Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots want a quick end to the talks, while the Greek Cypriots reject setting a deadline. Cyprus was divided when Turkey intervened after Greece tried to take over the island in 1974. The Greek Cypriots represent the island internationally and in the EU, while Turkey is the only country to recognize the KKTC, which unilaterally declared its independence in 1983.


Another fait accompli?

“What Ankara wants is for Greek Cyprus to be persuaded to assume a constructive approach in the negotiation process because, currently, the Greek Cypriots are using all kinds of their well-known tactics to drag their feet in finding a permanent and just solution to the conflict,” a Turkish government official told Sunday’s Zaman.

“Its tactics are obvious and, as usual, Greek Cyprus is again trying to create yet another fait accompli: First it will assume the rotating presidency of the EU without any deal on the table for reunification of the island, then the agenda will focus on Greek Cyprus’ presidential election early in 2013, which it hopes will kill the UN negotiation process in the meantime and keep the island’s non-settlement the status quo. If the EU is really keen on finding a solution for the island, it should not repeat the same mistake it made in 2004 by letting Greek Cyprus in as the official representative of the island and by not keeping up its promises of easing the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots,” the same official elaborated, speaking under condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Turkish Cypriots are isolated in every sphere and are unable to even play in an international football match, while Greek Cypriots comfortably enjoy international recognition and EU membership.

Turkey has constantly called on the EU to fulfill its commitment to ending the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots as a requirement for opening its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus. The EU unveiled a plan to ease Turkish Cypriots’ isolation by establishing direct trade with the KKTC after they voted for the UN plan -- led by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan -- to reunite the island, but it was never implemented because several members opposed, including Greek Cyprus, which joined the EU a few days after the Greek Cypriots rejected the same UN plan in April 2004 in a simultaneous referendum.

Does the EU want to experience a déjà vu?

A number of European politicians made a note of Greek Cyprus’ rejection of the Annan plan. One of them was the EU’s then top enlargement official, Günter Verheugen. The German politician was the commissioner for enlargement in the period between 1999 and 2004. He is a well-known figure in Turkey because this was also the thorny period when the groundwork for Turkey’s accession to the EU was being prepared.

In a speech he made before the European Parliament in April 2004, Verheugen openly said he “felt cheated” by the Greek Cypriot government.

The EU had to accept Greek Cyprus’ accession despite its leader’s public campaign against the UN plan to reunite the island because member Greece would have otherwise blocked the membership of other countries, a former EU official was quoted as saying in a US diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks in December 2010. Chris Patten, the EU’s former external relations commissioner, noted during a meeting with officials from the US Embassy in Brussels that “some of the accession countries were foisted on the EU as part of a larger bargain.”

Ankara opposes killing UN negotiation process in Cyprus