Cyprus-Forum.com

[joe]

EU tells Turkey to accept plan

EU tells Turkey to accept plan ending Cyprus stalemate,
STRASBOURG (AP)
THE European Commission urged Turkey yesterday to accept trade from Cyprus under a plan designed to prevent the country's troubled EU entry talks from collapsing.
''We have had enough talk of 'red lines' and 'blackmail','' EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said.
Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said his country would not succumb to ''blackmail'' in its dispute with the EU over Cyprus.
Turkey's EU entry talks are at risk of collapsing because of Ankara’s refusal to trade with Cyprus and it rejects a face-saving compromise.

Confidence

Rehn told the European Parliament the compromise proposed by Finland, the current EU presidency holder, was ''a major confidence-building measure towards a comprehensive settlement'' of the division.
He said Turkey risked squandering what may be the last chance for years to resolve the division and also keep its EU membership ambitions on track.
Turkey wants Cyprus's reunification to be left up to the United Nations, saying the EU is not neutral as it includes the government-controlled part of Cyprus. Under the Finnish compromise plan, Turkey would open its ports to planes and ships from Cyprus.
To boost trade with Turkish-occupied part of the island and end its so-called economic isolation, Famagusta would be opened to free trade under EU supervision and Turkish Cypriots would cede Varosha.
Rehn said trade with Cyprus was an EU issue.
The EU has set a December 6 deadline for Turkey to embrace the compromise plan. If not, the EU leaders, meeting the following week, may well suspend Turkey's entry talks.

Soured

The Cyprus dispute has further soured the mood surrounding those talks. Opposition to Turkish membership has increased - notably in France and Germany - with many questioning the merit of bringing a large, poor, Muslim nation to the bloc, especially one slow to embrace basic political reforms.
The commission plans to issue a highly critical report next week accusing Turkey of dragging its heels in political reforms and demanding significant improvements in 2007 if Ankara is to stay on track to join the bloc.

[MR-from-NG]

Last Updated: 17/11/2006 13:08
UN proposes new Cyprus talks

The United Nations has proposed a gradual buildup of talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriots to try to make progress within the first quarter of 2007, a UN document seen today said.

In a letter to the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, the United Nations proposed ways to kickstart stalled contacts between the two communities on the island, whose division is a major hurdle to Turkey's European Union accession bid.

In July, the two had agreed on a twin-track process on resuming talks, but progress has failed to materialise.

"It goes without saying that if there had been political will for progress the dispatch of this letter would have been unnecessary," a Western diplomat in Nicosia said.

The document, sent by United Nations Under-Secretary general Ibrahim Gambari to Cyprus president Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, is an attempt to resume Cypriot peace talks, stalled since 2004.

Timing of the letter, sent on November 15th, coincides with growing concern in the EU that a stalemate over Cyprus could dislodge Turkey's decades-old ambitions of joining the bloc.

REUTERS
© 2006 ireland.com

[humanist]

Hey joe could you please let me know the publication of the articles above

thanks

[joe]

AP article that was picked up by the Cyprus weekly. Check the Cyprus weekly website here:

http://www.cyprusweekly.com.cy/default.aspx

[Sotos]

I think that Turkish accession should stop now and start new negotiations for the CY problem. When we agree on a solution then the negotiations for the Turkish accession in EU will restart.

[humanist]

I would like to know what would happen if refugees started heading back to their homes? As did the older man that has been mentioned in the papers.

[andri_cy]

HUmanist the problem is you cant really use that guy as an example as he didn't take back his home, he is living in it as a guest. Not a lot of people would like to head back to their homes so they can live in them as guests, don't you think?

[elko]

Turkey has made it abundantly clear that she is not going to say "Yes" to proposals from Finland dressed up as a compromise, It is all one sided and unfair. Anything that does not include ERCAN is not on. We already have Famagusta and we do trade through it, so almost nothing to gain for the Turkish Cypriots there.
Forget EU and forget the accession talks. Why are the Europeans and the Greeks getting so red under the collar? The game is over, forget it. See you ten years later when the EU will crumble altogether. I know it does not suit you to believe it but we will see.
ismet

[cypezokyli]

do you think there is sth to gain for the gcs ?
from what has reached the press up to now , the deal doesnot refer to return of famagusta to tis oweners.

the only thing the proposal is doing is trying to give both errdogan and tpap the chances to present themselves as vicotrs, and it is apparently failing. the question is not who gains from the proposal bc it is noone. the question is who is going to reject it...this is where things stand today.... tragic isnt it ?

[humanist]

Elko, watch what you say mate cause it'll back fire on you. If Turkey does not want to join the EU why not stop the talks why not be honest and say you know what the EU club is not for our country nor our people.

In relation to your coment that you have trade through Farmagusta then why complain you are economically isolated and why are 8,000 of Turksih Speaking Cypriots crossing the green line each day to come to the South for work. Why have nearly twice that number applied for EU passports through Cyprus' accession to the EU. If you do not need the EU stay out of it pull the plug now.

May be the ROC ought to forget about it. Maintain the economic embargo and you can continue to live 32 years behind the ROC.