Cyprus-Forum.com

[brother]

Papadopoulos: Annan plan not buried yet

* The Greek Cypriot leader sends a letter to EU states and the UN setting out areas of concern in the Annan plan. To Ankara, he reiterates that on its EU path Turkey has responsibilities to fulfill towards his government

------------------------------------------------------------------------

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

Greek Cypriots sought backing from the European Union and the United Nations for its efforts to revive talks on a plan for the reunification of Cyprus that collapsed after it was rejected by the Greek Cypriots in a referendum earlier this year, saying the so-called Annan plan has not been buried yet.

Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos said he has sent a letter to the EU member states and the United Nations explaining areas of concern for the Greek Cypriots in the Annan plan.

The Greek Cypriots voted against the U.N. plan in the April 24 referendum, while the Turkish Cypriots backed it. Papadopoulos, who campaigned for rejection of the plan, has repeatedly said it should be renegotiated after the changes he desired were made. Turkey, which backed the plan, and the Turkish Cypriots said they were not open to fresh talks on the collapsed plan.

Papadopoulos, at a meeting of his Democratic Party (DIKO), said the Greek Cypriots had a "wholistic strategy" concerning changes that it wanted to be made in the U.N. bleuprint.

He said, however, he did not expect any new steps to be taken soon on solution of the Cyprus issue, saying any new initiative was unlikely to come by December.

He said the solution would be "painful and difficult" and that therefore it should be at least "workable."

The Greek Cypriots joined the EU on May 1, a few days after voting against the reunification plan. EU heads of state and government will decide whether or not long-delayed accesssion talks with Turkey should start at a summit on Dec. 17.

Papadopoulos, one of the 25 leaders who will decide on Turkey's request to open accession talks, said he was not going to disclose Nicosia's decision.

The Greek Cypriot leadership has previously said it would announce its decision whether to veto the opening of the talks at the last minute.

"In principle, we have a positive view of Turkey's EU membership bid. But Turkey has to fulfill its responsibilities," he said, referring, among others, to its demand for diplomatic recognition from Ankara.

Athens backs Greek Cypriot claims

Greece, which so far has been a firm supporter of Turkish membership, also upheld Greek Cypriot demands. Speaking at a joint press conference with Papadopulos after talks in Nicosia, Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said Turkey must recognize the Greek Cypriot government as any other EU state before it could start accession negotiations with the European Union.

But Papadopoulos and Karamanlis avoided saying whether, if Turkey refuses, they would veto a proposal at the summit to grant Turkey a date for entry talks.

"We have made it clear, in all sincerity, that we support the European orientation of Turkey," Karamanlis said during an address at a special session of the Greek Cypriot Parliament on Saturday. "But Turkey's path toward Europe primarily depends first and foremost on itself. It depends on its effort to comply with European laws and principles and particularly (on) its conduct toward the Republic of Cyprus."

Karamanlis visited Greek Cyprus to coordinate a joint policy for the Dec. 17 EU summit that will consider granting Turkey a date for entry talks.

Papadopoulos calls for talks with Ankara

On Friday Papadopoulos said Turkey was obliged to recognize his administration and pull out its troops and mainland Turks from the northern part of Cyprus and said the Greek Cypriots wanted to hold talks to discuss the terms they wanted Ankara to meet before and after the Dec. 17 summit.

"We have sent a message to the government of our neighboring country that we are ready for a dialogue to explain our positions and to say how we see the relations between Cyprus and Turkey developing before and after Dec. 17 until Turkey's accession to the European Union," Papadopoulos said at a banquet for Karamanlis.

"Now it's up to Turkey to accept this invitation and challenge."

The division of Cyprus is not an EU condition for talks to start, but the Greek Cypriot administration has a list of grievances with Ankara and will seek to use its status as an EU member as leverage.

Papadopoulos said Dec. 17 was a "very, very important" date.

"But Turkey's course towards the EU does not end on that day. On the contrary it will embark on a huge effort and at each stage of this process there are possibilities of fulfilling the obligations Turkey has towards Cyprus," he said.

Turkey does not recognize the Greek Cypriot administration. In October Turkey extended its customs union agreement with the EU to the union's 10 new members, including Greek Cyprus. But Ankara said the move "does not imply in any way the recognition of the Greek Cypriot administration by Turkey."

[MicAtCyp]

said it (the Anan Plan") should be renegotiated

Distortion has no end! When was the Anan Plan negotiated? In Nicosia perhaps, where nothing was agreed with Denktash? In Burgenstock were nothing was agreed again?

Was the Anan Plan the result of negotiations? Or was it a plan produced and arbitrated by De-Soto and Coffi Anan after they were heavily lubricated with millions of dollars by theAnglo-Americans to arbitrate everything in favour of Turkey? What makes me really pissed off is the buying out of Verhoigen in addition to the other two.Every single line in the Anan Plan was against the EU Aquis, and to every single line, all Verhoigen had to say, was it's OK it's OK. Damn you Verhoigen, you were worse than the other two.

The biggest mistake of Papadopoulos was to accept the arbitration of the United Nothings Secretary General. That was not a product of the UN.That was a product of 2 single sold outs of the UN.

The Anan Plan is not going to be re-negotiated. If this happens it will be the first time it will ever be negotiated!

[mehmet]

Micat Cyp, we all know what happened this Spring. Papadopoulos and Denktas went out of their way not to negotiate. One can think of the public holidays where Papadopoulos wasn't prepared to talk. Damn it, he can celebrate the rest of his life, just this year he was President in the middle of a process. We all know Denktas didn't go to Switzerland, but what did Papadopoulos achieve whilst there. Has he ever claimed to have contributed anything to the discussions. Why only now he talk about changes to Annan plan when he had plenty of chances to do so in a room with Denktas and under the eyes of the United Nations and European Union.

[-mikkie2-]

The aim of Papadopoulos was to seal Cyprus' EU entry with the title of Republic of Cyprus. If that isn't obvious then I don't know what is.

The biggest failure of the 'negotiation' process is the failure of the UN, US/UK and EU to make Papadopoulos an offer he would find extremely hard to refuse. That they did not do.

In my view it was a massive diplomatic failure for the short sighteness of these diplomats and for the zeal in which they appeased Turkey throught the process.

You can blame Papadopoulos all you like but quite frankly most of the blame lies with the people that oversaw this process.

[Bananiot]

Your first paragraph says it all mikkie. The rest do not count. Remember, for example, they were begging him to ask for Karpasia, but he wouldn't listen. He had a different agenda in his mind. I agree with you here 100% but if you can be a bit more open minded then its not easy to realise that since his main goal was to "enter the EU with the title of Republic of Cyprus" any plan that would lead to solution would turn his goal into dust. So, please, stop blaming the "others" it is really a sickening phenomenon in Cyprus that we find in front of us in all walks of life.

[brother]

Under his own admission tassos was given the annan plan before anyone else including denktas saw it but he did not at any point try to change/amend it, he just left it as is and then went on T.V and cried like a little girl and told the people to vote 'oxi'.

Tassos wants division, he is a wolf in sheeps clothing.

[-mikkie2-]

The Turks would NEVER give Karpasia back. They look at the northern coastline of Cyprus as theirs. You are a fool to think that the Turks would leave it under GC administration.

[brother]

Not GC administration but cypriot admin. that is the whole idea for us to unite as one people and run our own island, at times i am tempted to accept anything just so we can have our freedom from the outside powers and once left alone resolve all the loose ends then but can that happen i don't know.

[Bananiot]

Well, now you are biased, mikkie. Nevertheless, he should have asked for it. Negotiate it!

[-mikkie2-]

Bananiot,

Was it not said that the choice to have Karpasia under GC state would be to have permanent derogations on freedom of movement and settlement for GC's in the TC state?

Do you consider this acceptable?