Cyprus-Forum.com

[Kikapu]

The Associated PressPublished: April 10, 2008

Russia considers a role in trying to resolve Cyprus division


ATHENS, Greece: Moscow is looking into whether it could help resolve the decades-old division of Cyprus, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov said Thursday.

Titov, who met in Athens with Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, said he would visit Cyprus next week and meet with leaders there "in order to study the possibilities for our participation in trying to bring a long-lasting solution."

Greek Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat recently agreed to restart stalled talks on reunifying the ethnically divided island.

"We have agreed that there is a window of opportunity which must be exploited," Titov said after his talks with Bakoyannis.

Cyprus was divided in 1974 following a Turkish invasion after a failed coup attempt to unite the island with Greece. A breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the north is recognized only by Ankara. While the whole island is technically a part of the European Union, the bloc's benefits are enjoyed only by the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south.

Three decades of U.N.-sponsored talks have failed to find a solution. Russia has been involved in the Cyprus problem mainly through its role as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council rather than through direct meetings with the two sides.

Titov described the island's division as "one of the most important issues in the region," and said Moscow was in favor of a "real compromise" that would be endorsed by the Security Council.

"We will be trying from the Russian side to be as supportive as possible," Titov said.

Apart from Cyprus, Titov and Bakoyannis also discussed cooperation in energy projects, including the South Stream pipeline, and the situation in Kosovo, the Russian deputy minister said.

Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis is expected to visit Moscow, and the trip will likely come this month, Titov said.

A branch of the South Stream pipeline is due to pass through northern Greece. Russia is also the principle natural gas supplier in Greece.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/ ... Cyprus.php

[Kikapu]

ReutersPublished: April 11, 2008

EU calls on Turkey to meet Cyprus obligations


ANKARA: European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called on Turkey on Thursday to meet its obligation under European Union membership talks to open its ports to ships from Cyprus.

Ankara says it will only open its ports to Cyprus, as agreed with the EU, if the bloc fulfils a pledge to end the economic isolation of Turkish Cypriot area of the island.

"This is today the main obstacle for significant progress in Turkey's accession process," Barroso said in a speech to Turkey's parliament.

"As you are aware, several negotiating chapters are blocked and no chapter can be closed until Turkey ensures full implementation of the additional protocol," Barroso said.

Ankara does not recognise the Greek Cypriot-controlled government in the south of the island, which has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded in response to a brief Greek-inspired coup.

Barroso called on Turkey, which has stationed some 35,000 troops in northern Cyprus, not to miss the opportunity of reunification efforts in Cyprus after a presidential election there in February.

"The opportunity that we have this year might not return," he told parliament.

EU-focused reforms in Turkey have all but come to a standstill in the country over the last two years.

Even the proposed reform of a controversial penal code used against intellectuals including Nobel Literature Laureate Orhan Pamuk is weaker than Brussels might have hoped, although Barroso praised the move.

"Certainly our first reading of this is that it represents a step in the right direction," Barroso told a news conference.

Parliament is expected to vote on the amendment, which has been sharply criticised by the opposition, next week.

Barroso added he expected two more chapters, or policy areas, to be opened soon with Turkey.

"I'm confident that two further chapters will be opened for negotiations before July," Barroso said.

(Writing by Paul de Bendern)

http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/200 ... CYPRUS.php

[Kikapu]

The Associated PressPublished: April 11, 2008


EU chief visits Orthodox patriarchate in Istanbul


ISTANBUL, Turkey: The head of the European Union met with the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians on Friday in Istanbul, where they were expected to discuss Turkish resistance to reopening a Greek Orthodox seminary.

Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, is on the second day of a three-day visit to Turkey, which is seeking EU membership. On Thursday, Barroso welcomed a Turkish decision to return property, such as school buildings, churches and orphanages, seized from Jewish and Christian foundations decades ago.

Turkey had seized the properties in 1974, around the same time it invaded Cyprus after a failed coup by supporters of uniting the island with Greece.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I is based in Istanbul. Turkey does not recognize his international role as spiritual leader of 250 million Orthodox Christians worldwide. It rejects his use of the title "ecumenical," or universal, arguing instead that the patriarch is merely the spiritual leader of Istanbul's dwindling Orthodox community.

Barroso and Bartholomew were expected to discuss Turkey's unwillingness to reopen a seminary that was shut down more than two decades ago, despite pressure from the EU and the U.S. No announcement was made after the meeting.

The Halki Theological School on Heybeliada Island near Istanbul was closed to new students in 1971 under a law that put religious and military training under state control in the predominantly Muslim country. The school closed its doors in 1985, when the last five students graduated.

The official argument for the seminary's closure is that a religious institution without government oversight is not compatible with secular institutions of Turkey, a country where all Muslim clerics are trained and paid by the government, and are handed scripts of Friday sermons by a state agency.

Bartholomew says Ankara refuses to open the seminary because it aims to prevent the church from raising new leaders. The church's leader has to be a Turkish citizen, which makes it difficult for the dwindling Greek community of several thousand to produce any candidates.

Turkey's reluctance to reopen it stems from a deep mistrust many here feel toward the patriarchate because of its traditional ties with Greece, Turkey's historical regional rival.

The patriarchate in Istanbul dates from the Orthodox Greek Byzantine Empire, which collapsed when Muslim Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople, today's Istanbul, in 1453.

___

Associated Press writer Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara contributed to this story.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/ ... key-EU.php

[Kikapu]

"The Washington Times"
April 11, 2008


EU warns Turkey not to prosecute AKP

By Andrew Borowiec

NICOSIA, Cyprus — The European Union is warning Turkey that a trial to ban the governing party could jeopardize its membership application.

Turkey's highest court decided last week to start a potentially crisis-provoking trial that could ban the country's top officials and their party from politics on grounds of anti-secularism.

The EU warning was formally delivered by Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn over the weekend, spurring Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to snap in a public speech Monday that "Turkey would have nothing to lose if Europe keeps it out. The EU would be the loser."

According to Mr. Rehn, a trial of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), in power since 2002, should not commence because "such disputes should be resolved through the ballot box and not by the courts."

The 11-member Constitutional Court has accused the AKP of trying to install an Islamic state.

The statements have plunged the already wobbly relations between the European Union and Turkey to what some diplomats describe as "a new and dangerous low."

Diplomatic sources noted "an alarming enlargement fatigue" by the European Commission in Brussels — and a growing disinterest in Turkey to Europe's reaction to the trial.

Turkey's pessimism about its membership chances has been increased by the latest opinion polls showing that 59 percent of EU citizens oppose the accession process, already stuck on eight major policy issues, including the refusal to admit ships and aircraft from Cyprus, an EU member.

Two key European leaders, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, are on record as opposing Turkey's application for various reasons, including its geographic position, Islam's position as the dominant religion and insufficient democratic credentials.

Turkey's search for major constitutional reform has been affected by the trial of the AKP and of 71 of its leading officials on charges of trying to introduce measures to pave the way for Shariah, or Islamic law. The officials include Mr. Erdogan as well as President Abdullah Gul.

The 162-page indictment by Turkey's chief prosecutor has purported violations of the country's secular system by major acts as well as such minor issues as favoring university entrance by graduates of Islamic schools as well as ban on liquor sales in some municipalities. One of the key issues was the lifting of the ban on head scarves worn by female university students.

Mr. Erdogan has called the forthcoming trial of his party "an attack on democracy."

The party and its leadership have decided to continue instituting reforms independently of the threat of its dissolution and Turkey's difficulties with the European Union.

Mr. Erdogan said he would speed up reforms required by the European Union, and on Wednesday, the AKP submitted to parliament a law to amend the controversial article 301 of the penal code, under which dozens of journalists and writers have been prosecuted for "insulting Turkishness."

"Other steps which will bring Turkish democracy forward will follow on a fast track," Mr. Erdogan said.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbc ... 44280/http

[Eric dayi]

"The Washington Times"
April 11, 2008


EU warns Turkey not to prosecute AKP

By Andrew Borowiec

NICOSIA, Cyprus — The European Union is warning Turkey that a trial to ban the governing party could jeopardize its membership application.

Turkey's highest court decided last week to start a potentially crisis-provoking trial that could ban the country's top officials and their party from politics on grounds of anti-secularism.

The EU warning was formally delivered by Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn over the weekend, spurring Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to snap in a public speech Monday that "Turkey would have nothing to lose if Europe keeps it out. The EU would be the loser."

According to Mr. Rehn, a trial of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), in power since 2002, should not commence because "such disputes should be resolved through the ballot box and not by the courts."

The 11-member Constitutional Court has accused the AKP of trying to install an Islamic state.

The statements have plunged the already wobbly relations between the European Union and Turkey to what some diplomats describe as "a new and dangerous low."

Diplomatic sources noted "an alarming enlargement fatigue" by the European Commission in Brussels — and a growing disinterest in Turkey to Europe's reaction to the trial.

Turkey's pessimism about its membership chances has been increased by the latest opinion polls showing that 59 percent of EU citizens oppose the accession process, already stuck on eight major policy issues, including the refusal to admit ships and aircraft from Cyprus, an EU member.

Two key European leaders, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, are on record as opposing Turkey's application for various reasons, including its geographic position, Islam's position as the dominant religion and insufficient democratic credentials.

Turkey's search for major constitutional reform has been affected by the trial of the AKP and of 71 of its leading officials on charges of trying to introduce measures to pave the way for Shariah, or Islamic law. The officials include Mr. Erdogan as well as President Abdullah Gul.

The 162-page indictment by Turkey's chief prosecutor has purported violations of the country's secular system by major acts as well as such minor issues as favoring university entrance by graduates of Islamic schools as well as ban on liquor sales in some municipalities. One of the key issues was the lifting of the ban on head scarves worn by female university students.

Mr. Erdogan has called the forthcoming trial of his party "an attack on democracy."

The party and its leadership have decided to continue instituting reforms independently of the threat of its dissolution and Turkey's difficulties with the European Union.

Mr. Erdogan said he would speed up reforms required by the European Union, and on Wednesday, the AKP submitted to parliament a law to amend the controversial article 301 of the penal code, under which dozens of journalists and writers have been prosecuted for "insulting Turkishness."

"Other steps which will bring Turkish democracy forward will follow on a fast track," Mr. Erdogan said.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbc ... 44280/http

The EU is coming out with all sorts of excuses to keep Turkey out and I hope they do, for Turkey's sake but it is a case of "damned if you do and damned if you don't".

If Turkey goes the Islamic way it will not be accepted in to the Christian club.

If Turkey prosecutes the man/party who want to turn Turkey in to an Islamic country the EU will not allow them in.

GO EU GO.

[Kikapu]

The Associated PressPublished: April 12, 2008

EU chief says bloc is committed to Turkey's membership, urges reforms


ISTANBUL, Turkey: The European Commission's president says the EU is committed to negotiations toward Turkey's membership and he urged the country to speed up reforms.

Jose Manuel Barroso says he encouraged Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to "move ahead on the reform path for the good of the country and to bring the country closer to EU membership."

Barroso was ending a three-day visit to Turkey on Saturday.

During an address to Turkey's parliament, Barroso said the Muslim country's integration into Europe would offer "a powerful alternative" to radical Islam.

The EU opened entry talks with Turkey in 2005, but there has been little progress because of disagreements over Cyprus and opposition from some EU countries.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/ ... key-EU.php

[zan]

The Associated PressPublished: April 12, 2008

EU chief says bloc is committed to Turkey's membership, urges reforms


ISTANBUL, Turkey: The European Commission's president says the EU is committed to negotiations toward Turkey's membership and he urged the country to speed up reforms.

Jose Manuel Barroso says he encouraged Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to "move ahead on the reform path for the good of the country and to bring the country closer to EU membership."

Barroso was ending a three-day visit to Turkey on Saturday.

During an address to Turkey's parliament, Barroso said the Muslim country's integration into Europe would offer "a powerful alternative" to radical Islam.

The EU opened entry talks with Turkey in 2005, but there has been little progress because of disagreements over Cyprus and opposition from some EU countries.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/ ... key-EU.php

Last minute talks with the UK and that bastion of democracy, Greece were held also........Old news love...Next please!!!!!

[cymart]

Putin and the F.S.B. are very bad news!Ask the relatives of the victims of the Dubrovka theatre siege or the parents of the Beslan children what they think of this regime-or ask Anna Politkovskayas family what happens to people who speak the truth over there?

[humanist]

can't be worse than Turkey they shoot them and encourage a man to beat his wife in public because he can ..........

[zan]

can't be worse than Turkey they shoot them and encourage a man to beat his wife in public because he can ..........

Is this something you witnessed on one of your round the world back packing trips Humanist......I love it when the whole village turns up to chant the wife beating song!!!!! Did you learn the words when you were there!! We can sing along together if you like...