Cyprus-Forum.com

[brother]

Turkey lays its cards open: No Cyprus recognition, no third option



At talks with Turkish Cypriot leaders Erdog<breve>an and Gül stress Ankara may recognize only a ‘new Cyprus’ that will be established after a settlement on the island Turkey does not want exceptional treatment or privileged status

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News


In a letter to the Dutch term presidency Turkey has laid bare its position regarding the Cyprus issue and suggestions of a privileged associate member status -- the so-called third option -- stating, “No Cyprus recognition, no third option, may suspend the process.”
In the letter sent to the Dutch term president last Thursday, recalling that European Union leaders had agreed at their 2002 Copenhagen summit to open accession negotiations with Turkey “without delay” if the EU Commission reported sufficient compliance by the Turkish government with the political criteria, Ankara stressed that it expected the EU to live up to its pledge that the commission gave on Oct. 6 in its affirmative progress report.

EU leaders are expected to agree at a Dec. 16-17 summit to begin membership negotiations with Ankara, but a first draft of the summit's conclusion indicated that the leaders might set some tough conditions
According to well-placed diplomatic sources, stressing that Turkey did neither want exceptional treatment or a privileged status, the letter emphasized that Ankara wanted the EU to remain loyal to its pledge not to introduce any new conditions and handle the Turkish accession process in the very same fashion as it did with all other candidate countries.

Ankara expected the EU to set a firm date for the opening of accession negotiations at the December summit and declare that the talks will end in membership, the letter reportedly stressed, brushing aside any “advanced partnership” or “privileged partnership” as suggested by some EU countries as a “third option” for Turkey.

According to a draft of EU summit conclusions leaked to the press last week, EU leaders will give no guarantee for ultimate membership and will warn Turkey that the negotiations could be suspended if it violates fundamental EU principles.
The document also contained EU expectations that Ankara formally recognize the Greek Cypriot administration as the Cyprus government representing the entire island. Although a United Nations-drafted settlement plan was accepted by the Turkish Cypriot side but voted down by Greek Cypriots in last April’s referenda on the island, the Greek Cypriot side was nevertheless allowed to join the EU.
In the letter, sources said, Ankara underlined that it could not be held responsible for the failure of a settlement on the island in view of the outcome of the April referenda. It also stressed its commitment for a “mutually acceptable settlement” on the island and underlined that it would extend recognition to the political structure that will be established on the island following a political settlement to the over 40-year-old problem of power sharing between the two peoples of Cyprus.

In an interview on Saturday with daily Radikal, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdog<breve>an talked publicly for the first time about the possibility of Turkey suspending the EU membership process should Brussels insist upon introducing new conditions such as recognition of the Greek Cypriot government as the government of Cyprus in its entirety, or EU leaders coming up with a decision at the scheduled Dec. 16-17 council meeting for the start of a talks process that may not end up with the accession of Turkey.
"It is impossible for us to accept any new conditions. They will only tire us in the short time left," Erdog<breve>an said, and when asked if Turkey could turn down an offer at the December summit, Erdog<breve>an said, "Anything is possible."
"We are not playing games. The EU will set a date and firmly name the process, and we will prepare our program accordingly," Erdog<breve>an said.

President Ahmet Necdet Sezer is expected to hold a summit meeting with Erdog<breve>an, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül and Chief of the General Staff Gen. Hilmi Özkök for a final assessment before the prime minister and the foreign minister plunge into a last tour of certain European capitals to explain the Turkish position ahead of the December meeting.
In the run-up to the summit, President Sezer, Erdog<breve>an and Gül listened to Turkish Cypriot President Rauf Denktas¸, pro-settlement Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat and Foreign Minister Serdar Denktas¸ in a series of meetings in Ankara on Friday and Saturday.
Turkish officials said the talks with Turkish Cypriot leaders demonstrated the existence of a full consensus on all issues.
Well-placed government sources said Ankara and northern Cyprus have decided to step up efforts to achieve a settlement on the island.
 
Talat in full consensus with Turkey

Talat, in addition, voiced his satisfaction with the Ankara talks, saying he had witnessed a “full consensus” between northern Cyprus and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government in Ankara “on all issues.”
Describing pressures on Turkey to recognize the Greek Cypriot administration in northern Cyprus as the “government of the Cyprus Republic” representing the entire island as “futile,” Talat said it was out of the question for the Turkish government to recognize anything but a Turkish Cypriot-Greek Cypriot partnership government that will be established on the island following any settlement.
“Ankara will recognize only the ‘new Cyprus,’ and nothing else,” said Talat, stressing there was no single government on the island currently representing the entire territory and its two peoples.

The Turkish Cypriot prime minister, talking to reporters before a meeting of the Cabinet he convened late on Saturday following his return to northern Cyprus from his Ankara talks with Turkish officials, said, “Apart from the fact that the Cyprus Republic has no Turkish Cypriot participation -- a requirement of the 1959-60 founding treaties -- it has become a mechanism conducting hostile policies towards the Turkish Cypriot people. Therefore, recognition of the Cyprus Republic by Turkey -- as the government of the entire island -- is out of the question.”
The prime minister said Turkish recognition of the Greek Cypriot state was impossible, not because of Ankara’s obligations towards the Turkish Cypriot people, but at the same time for the reason that such a move would amount to acceptance of the accusations that have been levied against Turkey by the Greek Cypriots.
“Turkey will both recognize and guarantee the new structure that will come into being as a result of a comprehensive settlement,” said Talat.
 
Denktas confident
Rauf Denktas, who blasted mounting pressure on Turkey to recognize the Greek Cypriot government as the government of the entire island as “unjust,” said his talks with Turkish officials showed that, “There is no reason to worry about anything.”
“Turkey knows better than us what recognition [of the Cyprus Republic] means and will resist every pressure,” he said.
At the Ankara meeting, Denktas said, he, Prime Minister Talat and Foreign Minister Serdar Denktas had seen the “determined position” of Ankara.

“It was a meeting during which an evaluation was made that in general have soothed our worries … and the worries of our people. The national struggle remains as the national struggle and Turkey is closely monitoring its dangers and developments. The evaluations of Ankara regarding such developments are in full conformity with our evaluations,” he said.
Last week, the Turkish Cypriot Republican Assembly, meanwhile, adopted unanimously a motion prepared by an all-party ad hoc committee, calling on the EU to lift pressure on Turkey to recognize the Greek Cypriot state.
“Making Turkey’s recognition of the Republic of Cyprus a precondition to starting accession negotiations with the EU will create a host of political and legal problems,” the declaration said.

The committee called for the redoubling of efforts to bring about a bi-zonal federal solution and warned recognition would lead Turkish Cypriots to minority status within a Greek Cypriot-dominated state.
The declaration added that the current republic no longer resembled the 1960 republic that enshrined the equal political status of the Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities.
“We find it unacceptable that Turkey could contemplate recognizing the state that the Greek Cypriots hijacked in 1963,” said the declaration. Such a decision would represent an “attack against the wishes of the Turkish Cypriots,” it added.

[MicAtCyp]

Avrupa Yok!

[metecyp]

Avrupa Yok!

Watch out, the admin might get pissed

PS. Avrupa Yok ==> No Europe

[magikthrill]

Although a United Nations-drafted settlement plan was accepted by the Turkish Cypriot side but voted down by Greek Cypriots in last April’s referenda on the island, the Greek Cypriot side was nevertheless allowed to join the EU.

You know although I do read many articles of the Turkish Daily News' on Cyprus, I always find interesting how they never refer to cyprus as the Republic of Cyprus and the way they subtly try to make it seem that Cyprus' entering the EU was very unfair. However, I've never also seen them right anywhere about nothern cyprus being illegally occupied by Turkey.

Also, from reading other articles about Turkey's entering the EU, I get the feeling that Turk's with higher literacy rates think Turkey should not enter the EU yet. However that's just completely an unsourced opinion. I'm not sure how the situation really is.

[brother]

Well without splitting hairs the entry of cyprus was illegal as the agreement signed by cyprus turkey greece and U,K stipulates that cyprus under no circumstances can enter any union that turkey and greece are not already full members of hence the importance of the referandum in cyprus and why the E.U was so pissed of with tassos delivering the 'oxi' vote, as the E.U did not want the headache it has now.

Also yet again the turkish stance is that they done a peace operation to save the tc from the ethnic cleansing the GC were commiting and they are only still in cyprus to protect the peace which they claim is still there because of their presence.

Before every GC on the forum jumps down my throat with two feet i am just telling it how it is percieved in turkey and by nationalist TC.

[MicAtCyp]

Watch out, the admin might get pissed

PS. Avrupa Yok ==> No Europe

That's what I meant!
No cyprus recognition=No Europe (for Turkey.)

[turkcyp]

By the way Cyprus EU membership was the gift to you by Greece. Greece was so ashamed of what they did in 1974 (supporting EOKA-B and coup d'etat) that when Cyprus applied to EU, it threatened to use its veto power an derail all the enlargement process if RoC is not included in the next wave of expansion.

Allthough most of teh EU states at that point were against accepting a politically problemed Cyprus into EU. When the threat of veto from Greece combined with the German appetitiede for enlargement (so that all of the Germany' seastern neighbours become an EU state, their wealth level going up, and creating more of a market for Germany, and less of an illegal immigrants) the EU accepted the applicationof RoC to EU.

Lucky to GCs at that point (as it was the case for the last 30 years) our political leadership was completly ruled by Denktash, who is seen as the ultimate deal braker by the international community, so that the TCs were always seem as the deal braking side during UN negotiations over Cyprus.

So EU has satretd applying a carrot and stick approach to TCs. They were dangling the carrot (EU membership) and at the same time hitting with the stick (isolation and econoical embargos). Well this appraoched definetly worked on TCs.

But what EU failed to see, is that once you sater treating two sides in Cyprus unequally you basically start encouraging maximalist approaches. This is what happened in the RoC, but EU failed to realize this till 2004, when the A. plan was rejected by the GCs.

That is when Eu has woken up and start seeing that, if you say to any side, "You will be a member of Eu with or without solution, and turn back and apply 'carrot-stick' policy to the other side" all this does is to bolded one side, and let them ask for maximalist demands during negotiations.

I mean after EU said to RoC that you can be a member no matter what. What were they expecting GCs to do. Find a solution. They rather wait to be a full member and try to use their EU membership as a wild card and try to obtain a beter deal while in EU. It is just common sense. This is what we are seeing right now.

By the way, 1960 agreement does say that RoC can not be a member of any international body wothout the approval of its Guarantor power. It does not say, it as explicty as this, but if you look at the "Guarantee Agreement" you could see in Article 1. I do not remember RoC obtaining permission from Turkey to be part of EU. What you did was completly against your own constitution. But again it is international politics.

During those days tide was on your side, so you took advanatge of it. As dear Piratis would say its all about "Balance of Power". you have used you international politics better in those days, and obatined advantage. But my fellow TCs, were continously kept sleeping by Mr. Denktas's comments "saying they can not be a member of Eu. It is against international law, and it is against their constitution".

Once Denkast did a mistake and thought that international law would beatinternational politics. Now you are doing the same mistake.

Let's wait and see where teh time will take us.

Have a great day everybody,

[erolz]

By the way, 1960 agreement does say that RoC can not be a member of any international body wothout the approval of its Guarantor power. It does not say, it as explicty as this, but if you look at the "Guarantee Agreement" you could see in Article 1. I do not remember RoC obtaining permission from Turkey to be part of EU. What you did was completly against your own constitution. But again it is international politics.

Just for info

"ARTICLE I (of treaty of guarantee)
The Republic of Cyprus undertakes to ensure the maintenance of its independence, territorial integrity and security, as well as respect for its Constitution. It undertakes not to participate, in whole or in part, in any political or economic union with any State whatsoever. It accordingly declares prohibited any activity likely to promote, directly or indirectly, either union with any other State or partition of the Island."

also there is the small point that in the consitiution of the RoC issues of foregin policy require the consent of both communites leadership and that either community has a right to absolute veto (unlike on most issues where they can request that legisaltion is re drafted and or refer deadlocked decisions to the supreme court, which is not an absolute veto granted on issues like foreign policy).

[pantelis]

Tcypriot,
By voting "yes", the TCs gave their consent for entering the EU family, with or without Turkey, as well as to receive fistfuls of euros from the EU. Everything about the EU is legal and paid for.
Turkey's continued interference in Cyprus' internal and external afairs, is a violation of the EU laws. The occupation of part of Cyprus (now part of the EU) by the Turkish army, makes Turkey a violator of the EU laws, as well as the 1960 "agreements", thus the "agreements" become null and void, until fully restored(never). The EU laws are what count now, I think, not the 1960 "agreements".

[-mikkie2-]

It undertakes not to participate, in whole or in part, in any political or economic union with any State whatsoever.

The EU is not a state. The treaty specifically mentions union with a State, with a capital S. It does not mention organisations, which is effectively what the EU is at the moment. The constitution obviously had in mind union with greece or double union with both greece and turkey.

Lawyers studied the constitution before Cyprus' EU entry. They found no legal basis to obstruct Cyprus from joining.

Cyprus was in fact a founder member of the non-aligned movement, an organisation which Turkey was not a member.

The argument is therefore completely IRRELEVANT.

In any case, Turkey has not upheld the constitutional order on the island as per her treaty obligations, therefore it stands to reason that she cannot tenuously use provisions of a constitution she does not recognise!