Cyprus-Forum.com

[Kifeas]

This is are extracts from a today’s article in Turkish Daily News, signed by the famous Turkish Journalist, Mehmet Ali Birand.

[url=http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=16945]Athens should be uncomfortable with the proceedings.
[/url]
Mehmet Ali BIRAND, Wednesday, June 29, 2005

"The statements coming from the EU are calling for Turkey’s membership to be reassessed before reaching a decision. Nicosia and Athens are silent; however, it is they who should be alarmed the most the way things are proceeding.
The statements coming from Brussels are all the same.

Turkey's membership should definitely be openly debated. In other words, what it entails should be understood by all, they say.

They're right. If the European Union doesn't make a definitive decision about its borders in the next few years, the confusion in Brussels and Ankara will continue. The membership negotiations will be clouded by this confusion and the steps that should be taken will suffer. It will be very hard for Turkey to pursue a goal that is not yet known."

....................................................................................................

"There is another point I would like to note and that is the attitudes of Greece and southern Cyprus. You might have noticed how silent these two countries have been over the past few weeks. They have said nothing about Turkish-EU relations since the referendum in France.

And I understand exactly why they are so quiet.

If the EU tries to isolate Turkey or push it towards a special status, both of these countries will be affected. The winds of peace sweeping the Aegean and Cyprus will definitely weaken. Ankara will no longer feel the need to be as sensitive on these issues as it used to be. The golden key held by Greece and southern Cyprus will disappear. Such a eventuality will be unfortunate for Turkey but also for Greece and southern Cyprus.

That's why Greece should make an assessment of the current state of affairs and adopt a stance on Turkish-EU relations, just like it did before Dec. 17, 2004.

Those who don't want Turkey to become an EU member should find Greece blocking their way.

Am I mistaken?"

MAB

[Turkey (( *]

That looks as a pretty well-written article. I think I agree with that!

[Anglo]

And blocking Greece's way will be France, Germany, Austria, The Netherlands etc, etc.

[Main_Source]

Just shows how sincere Turkey is for reunification of Cyprus. They'll only agree to it if they receive EU status...even though one has nothing to do with the other.

Just show's how sincere Ankara's 'winds of peace' is......not at all.

[metecyp]

Just show's how sincere Ankara's 'winds of peace' is......not at all.

Who told you that Ankara is sincere when it comes to Cyprus? We, Turkish Cypriots, also complain a lot about Ankara's policy in Cyprus. The problem is we're not sure either if GCs are sincere in a bicommunal bizonal federation. We're stuck between a rock and a hard place...

[demetriou_74]

the turks only want to fix the cyprus issue to get into europe.if they were sinsire it would of been returned years ago

[sk]

greece and cyprus may know that the can "control" somehow turkey if it joins the eu but i dont think they can press that much especially now with the bad financial situations in both greece and cyprus. they will support turkey but i dont think they can push that much. as for the "wind of peace" in the aegean is just stupid. instead of 100 illegal entries of turkish fighter jets you have 50. (numbers are hypothetical).
the problem with europe is that they thought cyprus was the best reason to say no to turkey. now that greece and cyprus "favor" turkeys application their real beliefs came on surface.
whether turkey will join or not is a matter of political and financial policy influence in brussels.
if the big countries will benefit from it ,it will happen. if not ,it wont.
also they will not risk to lose any of the current members (most probably a net contributor country)in order to admit turkey.(there are several countries now insisting about defining european unions borders first.
the countries turkey should be more afraid are : austria,denmark,germany(if merkel wins) and maybe france.

[gabaston]

sk

yup, thats just about sums it up.

[cannedmoose]

greece and cyprus may know that the can "control" somehow turkey if it joins the eu

The issue isn't controlling Turkey once it joins the EU, by that point Turkey would be in a far more influential position than either Greece or Cyprus. Rather, Turkey will be 'moulded' and cajoled by the accession process, which is very conditional, very one-sided and in Turkey's case will be very rigourous and all-encompassing. It will change the way that Turkey functions as a state and will have ramifications for everyone in the country and the region as a whole. That's where Greece and Cyprus have the real opportunities for movement.

[metecyp]

It will change the way that Turkey functions as a state and will have ramifications for everyone in the country and the region as a whole.

I completely agree. I'm not sure though if Turkey, as a whole, is ready for such a change. There's still that Sevr mentality that "Europeans are trying to exploit us" dominates Turkey and it won't be that easy for the government of Turkey to overcome all the barriers in Turkey before trying to overcome barriers in the EU (Austria, France)