Cyprus-Forum.com

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New Initiative On Cyprus
BYEGM: 11/22/2004

BY FERAI TINC

HURRIYET- I had thought there was no longer any need to write on the Cyprus issue. I thought Turkey had fulfilled its responsibilities, the Turkish Cypriots had accepted certain conditions (after long talks) for a united Cyprus, and now everything depended on the Greek Cypriots. Meanwhile, I also saw Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos’ efforts to make Ankara recognize Greek Cyprus. If the Turkish and Greek Cypriot women who came to Istanbul for a WINPEACE meeting hadn’t drawn my attention to this issue, I wouldn’t have written about it. In addition, Turkish and Greek women issued a call urging that Turkey be given a date for its European Union membership talks, and this was echoed by both Turkish and Greek Cypriot women. This call will be delivered to the media, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), universities and the European Parliament. Turkish and Greek Cypriot NGOs met recently to plan for a second referendum so UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s plan can be accepted by the Greek Cypriots. Turkish Cypriots are concerned that Ankara might recognize the Greek Cypriot administration if it gets its date for EU membership talks next month. We should also work to prevent this.

NGO representatives from both sides have started initiatives to end the current situation and issued a declaration. At this point, the points of agreement of the NGOs were determined. One article of the declaration reads, ‘We accept the principle of political equality. We agree that the two-state solution is unacceptable. In addition, a unitary state formula can’t work for Cyprus. Plans to make Turkish Cypriots into a minority also will not work.’ This initiative wants to lay the groundwork for a second referendum. Papadopoulos met with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in Rome last week. Of course the main issue was recognizing Cyprus. Will Turkey ignore Cyprus during its membership talks? Of course not. We have to recognize Cyprus not as it currently is, but rather once a solution is reached.