Cyprus-Forum.com

[insan]

Cyprus: The International Community's Threats Turn to Open Retaliation
Before the UN-proposed referendum to reunite Cyprus had been put to the vote the international community – chiefly in the form of the United Nations, European Union, and United States – had not only begun pressuring Cypriots to acquiesce and accept the pro-Turkish "peace plan" through a massive propaganda campaign but had also issued unambiguous threats of dire reprecussions if they did not.

The US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher had stated that the United States "would not leave the Turkish Cypriots out in the cold [...] We would not want to see the Turkish Cypriots penalized further if they voted in support of the referendum." An unnamed senior US official, speaking in more candid terms, promised the following: "We would do everything we could to ameliorate the effects on Turkish Cypriots, which would include an examination of all the policies related to their unfair isolation."

The EU Enlargement Commissioner Gunter Verheugen had stated he "would find it rather unfair that the Greek Cypriot community would enjoy benefits of membership, Turkey would enjoy benefits of entering the pre-accession phase, and only the Turkish Cypriots would get nothing." Verheugen added that he would also undertake an initiative to overcome the Turkish-occupied north's isolation should the Turks vote "yes" in the referendum.

The Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly President Peter Schieder said, "Those seeking to obstruct the settlement will bear grave political responsibility for this failure and should not be allowed to take advantage of it. At the same time, the international community, and the European Union in particular, should not betray the hopes of those Cypriots who are in favour of the settlement, nor make them pay the price of failure."

Some nations of no importance, like Azerbaijan, also took stances on the matter. The country's president Ilham Aliyev is quoted as saying that "if the Turkish side says yes and the Greek side says no, we will start the recognition process" and that "Azerbaijan will be among the first countries to recognize [northern Cyprus]." Highlighting the great ties between Azerbaijan and Turkey, he added, "The Turks living there are our brothers."

Immediately following the overwhelming Cypriot rejection of the Annan plan the international community kept good on their threats. In the media, western politicians, journalists, and diplomats universally slammed the Cypriots as preventing unification and cast a sympathetic light on the "plight" of the Turkish occupationists who had voted "yes" on the referendum. "They are responsible and need to explain themselves to the Turks, the UN and the entire world," Annan later declared of the Cypriots.

The United States and European Union were the first to unreservedly retaliate against Cyprus by attempting to undermine the worldwide embargo on the Turkish pseudostate. The EU approved 259 million euros in economic aid to the Turkish-occupied north and took definite steps to establish direct trade links there. It is also expected to open a commercial and economic office, and may even leave the option open for EU countries to establish direct flights to the north of Cyprus on an individual basis. The United States, on the other hand, immediately stated that it might offer de facto recognition to the pseudostate aside from rewarding it with large sums of economic and development assistance and helping the illegal regime forge relations with international organizations and agencies. Meanwhile, the British Prime Minister Tony Blair signed a joint action plan with Turkey which, among other things, stipulated that Britain would make efforts in both the United Nations and the EU to remove sanctions against the Turkish-occupied north.

Finally, the UN expressed its scathing criticism of Cyprus in early June through Secretary General Kofi Annan's report to the Security Council. The 25-page report – aside from attacking Cyprus for its position on the Annan plan, praising Turkey and the Turks of occupied Cyprus, and accusing the Cypriot government of intentionally "distorting" the plan in order to defeat it – stresses that the isolation against the Turks should be brought to an end, in essence exonerating them of all former blame.

All of these actions taken by the Europeans, the Americans, and the UN effectively legitimize the Turkish invasion of Cyprus as the former trade embargoes and sanctions against the illegal Turkish pseudostate are being completely subverted. The Turkish invasion, the occupation of Cypriot territory, and the presence of tens of thousands of troops and settlers mean nothing to the international community.

Reflecting on the matter it is not very difficult to see why the European Union and the United States have decided to punish Cyprus so severely while lavishing the Turkish pseudostate with rewards. The real aim of the Annan plan, despite the propaganda portraying it as a "peace plan," was never to truly solve the problem of Cyprus' division; if it had been the international community's response would have been much more restrained at the prospect of a rejection. After all, the Cypriots did not violate international laws or defy UN resolutions to cause such an uproar. They simply voted differently from what the major players in world affairs would have liked. Therefore it becomes obvious that the retaliation against Cyprus has much deeper implications and involves vested interested by the said groups.

The Annan plan therefore was an ill-conceived, patchwork "solution" created in haste so that the US and EU could "unite" Cyprus in a half-baked manner so as to fulfill their true objective: exploiting Cyprus' strategic location in the eastern Mediterranean as an economic platform and military base for US and EU interventions in the surrounding territories. Irked by the fact that the Cypriots decided to defy the various foreign powers by voting according to their own national interests Cyprus has accordingly been punished.

In the end this incident is a prime example of what happens when a sovereign nation attempts to excercise self-determination in today's world. It is also an eye-opening lesson to those naive enough to put their trust in "objective" third-parties like the United States, European Union, and United Nations.

http://www.hellas.f2g.net/articles/retaliation.html

[-mikkie2-]

This is old news! When was this article published?

I think the events of the past few months show that most of what was said in the article just isn't true.

[insan]

The point is here mikkie:

In the end this incident is a prime example of what happens when a sovereign nation attempts to excercise self-determination in today's world. It is also an eye-opening lesson to those naive enough to put their trust in "objective" third-parties like the United States, European Union, and United Nations.