[NEWS ANALYSIS]
‘Let’s meet at a cafe’ offer angers Talat
Mehmet Ali Talat
Each time he visits Cyprus, France's minister for EU affairs, Jean Pierre Jouyet, asks Mehmet Ali Talat, the president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), to meet at a café in the Turkish section of the divided capital of Lefkoşa, instead of visiting him at his presidential office.
This approach on the part of Paris hints that more difficulties are on the horizon, not only for the Cyprus issue but also for Turkish-French relations, which are already strained over France's objection to Turkey's potential accession to the EU, said one Turkish Cypriot diplomatic source. "When Talat turns down Jouyet's offer to meet at a café, the latter then suggests a meeting at the headquarters of Talat's former party, the Republican Turks' Party (CTP), simply because the French minister wants to avoid the impression that he is recognizing the KKTC," the same diplomat complained in an interview with Today's Zaman. Whereas, like the other envoys of EU countries based in the Greek Cypriot side of Lefkoşa, the French ambassador also regularly meets Talat at his presidential office.
"Jouyet's attitude is awkward. Upon his offer for to meet at a café, Talat responds by saying that he will not meet him as if he is having a secret meeting with a lover.
In addition, Jouyet does not want to acknowledge that Talat, as a president, is above politics and thus will not agree to be associated with his former party, the CTP, by meeting with Jouyet there," a Turkish Cypriot diplomat said.
This attitude alone displays how the Turkish side and the Cyprus issue as a whole have been underestimated by some of the EU member countries, said a source from Talat's office.
Another French policy that irks the Turkish Cypriot side is Paris' alleged insistence on basing its assertions about Cyprus on information supplied by Yorgos Yakovu, an aide to Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christofias.
The Greek Cypriot administration is recognized as the sole government of the divided island of Cyprus by the international community, while the KKTC is recognized only by Turkey. However, there are now around 20 KKTC offices operating in other countries -- mainly Islamic countries -- since the recognition of the KKTC as the Turkish Cypriot state by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in 2005.
Despite the ongoing division of Cyprus between the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities, the Greek Cypriot side became an EU member in May 2004, soon after a UN peace plan was overwhelmingly rejected by the Greek Cypriots, while accepted by a majority of Turkish Cypriots.
Cyprus solution under Christofias raises questions
Christofias' election as the new president of the Greek Cypriot administration in February, which ended the era of Tassos Papadopoulos, has raised hopes in the international community that the decades-old Cyprus stalemate may finally be resolved.
However, Turkish Cypriot officials and Turkish diplomats alike are convinced that Christofias, who became president with the blessing of Papadopoulos, will be no different than his predecessor in attempting to solve the Cyprus problem on their own terms.
Christofias has already stated that he will not recognize the UN peace plan, negotiated by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, as the basis for a solution. Instead, he will pursue a plan similar to the model under which East Germany was unified with West Germany following the demise of the Soviet Union, with East Berlin agreeing with the terms dictated by West Berlin.
This model does not include the new partnership model that the Turkish side has been promoting for the island.
The Turkish Cypriot side and Turkey hold that a new state should be established on the island composed of a partnership between the two constituent states on Cyprus, in other words a state to be created from square one (also known as the "Virgin Birth" concept).
Turkish diplomatic sources recalled that this model was the essence of the Annan plan.
A statement released by the Turkish National Security Council (MGK) in April also stated this position, stressing the establishment of two constituent states based on political equality.
Talat and Christofias will meet for the second time on May 23 against this backdrop of differing views on a Cyprus solution.
'Even the grammar mistakes are the same'
One example of the reasons why the Turkish side is pessimistic about prospects for breaking the Cyprus deadlock under Christofias is the fact that the current Greek Cypriot leadership, during fresh talks with the Turkish side, is still using old documents written by the previous administration on the Cyprus issue, with even grammar mistakes remaining the same.
"The Turkish Cypriot negotiating team has warned the Greek Cypriot side to come up with brand new documents. Such attitudes, in addition the statements Christofias has made publicly, hint that no solution is on the horizon for Cyprus," a Greek Cypriot analyst told Today's Zaman.
According to a Turkish expert on Cyprus, the Greek Cypriot side has been attempting to prolong talks with the Turkish Cypriot side until 2009, the year when the EU will make its assessment on Turkey's accession talks with the union, which are already moving slowly.
Next year in October the EU will see, among other things, whether Turkey has changed its policy of closing its ports and airports to the Greek Cypriots. In 2005 the EU suspended negotiations with Turkey on several topics because of its refusal to open its ports to the Greek Cypriots.
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=142135
What's the urgency?...for 30 odd years the turks were saying there is no problem...Today they seemed to think otherwise...why is that?
