Cyprus-Forum.com

[joe]

Finland cancels Cyprus-Turkey meeting

‘No chance’

HELSINKI (Agencies)

European Union president Finland yesterday cancelled an urgent meeting with the Foreign Ministers of Cyprus and Turkey, which it had called to prevent the collapse of Turkey’s already troubled EU membership talks.

The meeting was to have been held in Helsinki on Sunday and Monday.

"We were unable to get everybody around the same table," said Mikko Norros, a spokesman for the Finnish government.

Diplomats said Turkey declined to attend, irked that fellow Cyprus guarantor power Greece had not been invited and fearing it would be pressured into making one-sided concessions.

No chance



"There is no chance for a meeting in Helsinki", Susanna Parkkonen, a spokesman for Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, told Reuters, after days of intensive contacts.

"We will continue negotiations at a political level from now on", she said, adding that Tuomioja would meet Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat in Brussels on Friday.

The Finnish Foreign Minister had hoped to broker a meeting to discuss a trade and ports deal on Cyprus, before the executive European Commission publishes its next progress report on Turkey’s efforts to meet EU membership criteria.

That report, due next Wednesday, is widely expected to show Ankara is making no significant progress in either political reforms or in normalising relations with EU member Cyprus.

"Our aim has been to find a solution that enables the uninterrupted continuation of Turkey’s accession negotiations and improve the situation of both communities in Cyprus," Tuomioja said in a statement.

"We have a few weeks left to find a solution, although we had hoped to make progress before the release of the Turkey report," she said.

However, he stressed that Finland, which holds the rotating EU chair, would continue to work for progress on the issue.

Officials would not disclose details of the Finnish formula and President Papadopoulos said earlier yesterday: "There are certain ideas being floated, but there is no final conclusion, they are taking soundings."

Asked about the proposed meeting in Helsinki, the President said: "For the meeting to take place, Turkey must first state that it agrees to the return of the fenced off part of Varosha to its lawful inhabitants".

He stressed that according to UN resolutions, Turkey was held responsible for Famagusta and Varosha. "If Mr Erdogan (the Turkish Prime Minister) wants to include Mr Talat in the Turkish delegation it is his problem," he added.

He explained that the Turkish Cypriot leader had no role or authority to deal with Varosha.

Reports said Finland was proposing a trade-off under which Turkey would open some ports to Cypriot shipping - as it is obliged to do under its customs union with the 25-nation bloc.

In parallel, the Turkish Cypriots would be allowed to export goods directly to the EU from the port of Famagusta under EU supervision, and Greek Cypriots would be able to rebuild the abandoned resort of Varosha under UN administration.

Neither side rejected the Finnish plan - which had not been officially put on paper - but they both sought changes.

Turkish Cypriots asked that it should include opening an airport (Ercan/Tymbou), now under Turkish control, which the Greek Cypriots categorically rejected. Direct flights are not part of the discussions, a government source said in Nicosia.

The Greek Cypriots wanted clearer guarantees that the Greek Cypriot inhabitants of Varosha would get their homes back. The Nicosia government made it clear that the return of Varosha should be part of any deal.

Foreign Minister Giorgos Lillikas said as a first step, the ghost city could be handed to the UN, while reconstruction work was carried out. Estimates put the cost at around Θ4b.

The Associated Press said the Helsinki talks fell through because Ankara wanted the EU to end the ‘isolation’ of the breakaway state and negotiate with that regime.

Yesterday’s announcement was another setback to Turkey’s bid to joint he EU. It opened membership talks in October 2005.

But since then opposition has grown, notably in France and Germany, to bringing a large, poor, Muslim nation to the bloc, especially one that is slow to embrace basic political reforms and effectively refuses to recognise EU member Cyprus.

Turkish bond prices fell on the news, with traders saying market hopes of a deal appeared to have been dashed for now.

"This is very unfortunate because it would have given Turkey and Cyprus an opportunity to move ahead into next year and get out of this stalemate situation," said an emerging markets economist in Vienna.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul had urged Finland to use shuttle diplomacy, instead of trying to organise a joint meeting at foreign ministers level. . He said he expected continued close contact with the EU presidency and reaffirmed Ankara’s support for a comprehensive Cyprus settlement under UN auspices.

"Finland has struggled in good faith to achieve a meeting, but unfortunately they could not create an atmosphere in which such a positive step could be taken", Gul added.

Talat criticised the linking of Turkey’s EU bid to the Cyprus problem and called the Finnish plan unfair. He also challenged the EU’s authority to solve the Cyprus problem.

"We are calling for the lifting of the isolation of Turkish Cypriots not in return for anything given to Greek Cypriots," he added, during a stop-over in Istanbul.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn had urged Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots to accept the Finnish initiative as the best way to avoid a "train crash" in Ankara’s EU bid.

A.H.

[Sotos]

I think this is the end of the EU prospects of Turkey. I am sure now the Turks regret that they didn't allow the Annan plan to be a good plan that Greek Cypriots could accept. They thought that making the Annan plan so close to their demands was a victory for them. Now it proves it was not!

[zan]

I think this is the end of the EU prospects of Turkey. I am sure now the Turks regret that they didn't allow the Annan plan to be a good plan that Greek Cypriots could accept. They thought that making the Annan plan so close to their demands was a victory for them. Now it proves it was not!

What you seem to forget is that the ANNAN plan must have been put together whilst talks were in progress with all the countries involved just like the 1960 constitution. The RoC must have agreed on principle for it to go ahead to the final stage of a referendum. It was at this point that the RoC persuaded their people to say no.

[observer]

Sotos wrote:

I think this is the end of the EU prospects of Turkey. I am sure now the Turks regret that they didn't allow the Annan plan to be a good plan that Greek Cypriots could accept. They thought that making the Annan plan so close to their demands was a victory for them. Now it proves it was not!

If you believe that then it follows that you must also believe that it is the end of the GCs prospects of getting their properties back. Something of a Pyrrhic victory for those who opposed the Annan Plan, and a great shame for Cyprus' future. Most of the rest of the world saw the Annan Plan as an even-handed document that saw many getting their properties back. those who could not being compensated, and the Turkish and Greek forces on the island returning to their homelands. What incentive is there now for anyone to do anything to assist a change in Cyprus where for the last 32 years GCs and TCs have mostly been living in peace - separately.

[miltiades]

OBSERVER WROTE:
Most of the rest of the world saw the Annan Plan as an even-handed document that saw many getting their properties back. those who could not being compensated, and the Turkish and Greek forces on the island returning to their homelands. """

Observer I do hope that you have studied the "even handed AP , and that your above comments are based on having examined in detail this" time ticking bomb " of a Plan that was doomed to fail and would have ended in conflict in no time at all . Unification was no where to be found , two separate states one weak central government , and 40 thousand plus foreign troops ready to intervene and impose theit will on the people of Cyprus. Please read this diabolical AP and pay particular attention to the make up of Police stations , roads etc etc.

Turkey accepted the Plan and recommended the Plan to the T/Cs , Greece , what a waste of time !!!

[Sotos]

If you believe that then it follows that you must also believe that it is the end of the GCs prospects of getting their properties back.

No I think it will make Turkey understand that it is for her interest if the Cyprus problem is solved. When they actually lose something important as a result of the occupation they will understand this!

[observer]

Observer I do hope that you have studied the "even handed AP , and that your above comments are based on having examined in detail this" time ticking bomb " of a Plan that was doomed to fail and would have ended in conflict in no time at all . Unification was no where to be found , two separate states one weak central government , and 40 thousand plus foreign troops ready to intervene and impose theit will on the people of Cyprus. Please read this diabolical AP and pay particular attention to the make up of Police stations , roads etc etc.

Yes, I have read the Annan Plan, in its entirety; and following its implementation, it would not have been 40,000 foreign troops (i.e. Turkish troops) ready to intervene, it would have been over 100,000, for that is the size of the Turkish Army. However, if you believe that they are going to do that, the Turkish mainland being only a little over 40 miles away, then what point is there in any agreement? It seems to make more sense to accept that the Plan would work, GCs would not kill TCs, TCs would not kill GCs, and the Turkish Army would stay in Turkey.

As for dear Sotos, what is Turkey losing? If Turkey, with its young population, never joins the EU, then it is probably to its long term benefit, since it will not have to support an aging European population's pension plans!

[miltiades]

Observer , No you have not !!!

[observer]

Militades, what arrogance!

Find it here: www.tcea.org.uk/Annan-Plan-For-Cyprus-Settlement.htm

and tell me what I have missed.