Cyprus-Forum.com

[boulio]

everyone bashes t-pap but we truly see the turkish presidents attitude towards cyprus and then they wanted us to approve the annan plan and hope for turkish good will:

SEZER CANCELS VISIT TO FINLAND DUE TO GREEK CYPRIOT SNAG

President Ahmet Necdet Sezer yesterday cancelled a planned visit to Finland reportedly due to a snag over the Greek Cypriot ambassador to that country, Loria Markides. Since Turkey refuses to officially recognize the Greek Cypriot administration, Sezer reportedly sent a message to Finnish officials asking them not to invite Markides to a banquet that Finnish President Tarja Halonen will hold in his honor. However, the Finnish officials responded that by tradition all ambassadors of “neighboring” countries are invited to banquets held in honor of the presidents of EU member countries, and therefore they could not withdraw Markides’ invitation. Sezer thereupon reportedly informed the Finnish government that he was cancelling the visit because he could not shake hands with Markides. In related news, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Namik Tan told reporters that Sezer’s visit was postponed due to certain difficulties concerning the program. /Sabah/

[garbitsch]

The Turkish Republic does not recognise the Greek controlled government of Cyprus. Just like the Greek government does not recognise the TRNC and thus, does not present its officials in the same environment, where the TRNC officials are present. Besides, the Greek president made a statement that Cyprus and South Albania are occupied Greek lands. Where is the Greek good will?

[boulio]

please stick to the topic,and yes southern albania and cyprus are hitoriclly Hellenistic lands.

[brother]

Do you believe everything you read in the media?

[garbitsch]

I am sticking on the topic!!! These protests by the government officials are normal. The Chinese would do the same if a Taiwanese official was present.
Besides, Cyprus and South Albania are no more under the control of Greece. If you claim that these areas are Greek, then you are making an expantionist statement. Cyprus is a free country and equal member of EU. Similarly, south Albania is part of the Republic of Albania, which cannot be changed. However, your president showed more good will then Ahmet Necdet Sezer. Is it?

[-mikkie2-]

Besides, Cyprus and South Albania are no more under the control of Greece. If you claim that these areas are Greek, then you are making an expantionist statement.

So I suppose Turkish expansion is ok is it? Just like the claims Turkey has on northern Iraq for example.

This is the problem Turkey will be facing in the EU. At every meeting, at every function, at every representation of the EU the RoC will be there. Will Turkey refuse to attend meetings with the EU if a RoC representive is present? Will Turkey walk away from negotiations if a RoC representative is present? This is a farce! It makes the Turks look totally stupid!

[Piratis]

The Turkish Republic does not recognise the Greek controlled government of Cyprus. Just like the Greek government does not recognise the TRNC

Not exactly "just like". RoC is recognized by all counties except Turkey, while the illegal "TRNC" is recognized only by Turkey.

If Turkey doesn't want to recognize RoC then they should withdraw their application from our Union.

[brother]

piratis if turkey was to call your bluff and withdraw its application from your union there would never be solution to our problem and you would spend another 1000 years looking at the north from afar, think before you type please my friend.

[boulio]

i think brother that many g/c and this is my opinion would rather see the north from affair than have to deal with this arrogant and malice behaviour of turkey in the eu.

[cannedmoose]

Aside from the rather outdated argument about whether Cyprus is a 'hellenistic' land, I do think that the Turkish leadership is having difficulty adjusting to the way the European Union conducts business (as TPap also did initially). The EU functions primarily because former enemies are willing to sit down together and talk about issues, if things didn't work this way it would collapse almost immediately. Turkey also has a problem in that there is no way out of the October 3rd cul-de-sac that she finds herself in. Unless some miracle compromise is worked out, Turkey will have to sign the protocol to the Ankara Agreement by that date or accession negotiations will be delayed. Given that Erdogan has pinned his political career on a successful outcome vis-a-vis Europe, such a delay would be catastrophic.

From friends who work for the EU, I've heard that the Turks are well-received by many in the Commission and work effectively at more junior levels where politics doesn't affect the relationship. However, the Turkish political representatives still seem to think that when it comes to accession, they have some say in the format of negotiations. They must quickly learn that it's not an equal bilateral relationship. The accession process is anything but negotiated, it is conducted largely on terms set by the current EU member states, of whom Cyprus is one.

Whilst I am firmly in favour of Turkey's future membership, I fear that the progress she will make will be very slow if the current stance assumed by her politicians is maintained. Again, it comes down to this question: Is Turkey willing to sacrifice her European ambitions on the altars of nationalist rhetoric and retaining an enclave in northern Cyprus?