Turkish Forum English

Category: Cyprus/TRNC

  • CYPRUS: Two Nations and two States by Rauf R. Denktas

    CYPRUS: Two Nations and two States by Rauf R. Denktas

    EQUAL TREATMENT, BY THE WORLD, OF THE TWO NATIONS IN CYPRUS IS THE KEY TO A PEACEFUL AND LASTING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO PEOPLES OF THE ISLAND.

    RDBy His Excellency, Rauf R. Denktas, President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

    It gives me great pleasure to address the Turkish World from the pages of FOCUS. I congratulate the founders of the World Turkish Congress for this worthwhile publication.

    The idea of establishing a medium of communication within this organization is both timely and beneficial.

    I am sure that this publication will significantly contribute to the renewed awareness on our part of our common heritage and in informing the world about the affairs of the Turkish World.

    In this context, I would like to say a few words about the Cyprus issue which is again under discussion between the two Nations on the Island. The inability to find a diplomatic solution to this long-standing dispute is due to the fact that the cause of the problem has not been correctly diagnosed.

    The Cyprus problem arose thirty years ago as a result of a Greek Cypriot attempt to convert by force of arms, a partnership state into a purely Hellenic state.

    In the course of this campaign of violence, the Greek Cypriots did not only massacre, abduct and uproot thousands of Turkish-Cypriots but they also ejected them from the entire government apparatus.

    That the international community continued to treat the Greek Cypriot side as the “Government of Cyprus”, in spite of the above, has left no incentive to the Greek Cypriots to settle the problem with us on the basis of political equality.

    Furthermore, the Greek Cypriots have been enriching themselves economically from the continuation of the status-quo while the Turkish Cypriots are kept under an inhuman embargo.

    This in a nutshell is the core of the Cyprus problem and unless a remedy is found to the illegal and immoral monopolization by the Greek Cypriots of the title of “the Government of Cyprus”. The Greek Cypriots will have no incentive to settle a dispute on a just and lasting basis.

    The Turkish-Cypriots deserve to be treated as an equal political entity in Cyprus as much as the Greek-Cypriots. They have established their own state nine years ago through the exercise of their right to self determination. A negotiated solution can only be achieved by the recognition of the reality of the existence of two Nations and two States in the island. Equal treatment, by the world, of the two nations in Cyprus is the key to a peaceful and lasting relationship between the two peoples of the island.

    FOCUS on the Turkish World, November 1992, the World Turkish Congress

  • UN extends mandate of peacekeeping mission in Cyprus

    UN extends mandate of peacekeeping mission in Cyprus

    The United Nations Security Council voted on December 14 2010 to extend the mandate of the United Nations peacekeeping mission that has been in place in Cyprus since 1964 following an outbreak of inter-communal violence by a vote of 14 to one, with Turkey casting the lone negative vote, the UN News Service said.

    cyprusIn the resolution extending the mission (UNFICYP) until June 15 2011, the Council called on the leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities to “intensify the momentum of negotiations” aimed at reunifying the Mediterranean island.

    The 15-member body also called on them to develop a practical plan for overcoming the major remaining points of disagreement in preparation for their meeting withSecretary-General Ban Ki-moon next month.

    Explaining Turkey’s vote, ambassador Ertugrul Apakan said that Council resolutions, from the first one that set up UNFICYP to subsequent ones extending its mandate, are unfortunately still being drafted “as if there is only one side on the island.”

    “There has not been a joint and constitutional government representing the whole of Cyprus since 1963. Treating the Greek Cypriot government as the government of the whole island has been the main obstacle on the way to finding a just, lasting and comprehensive solution for over 47 years,” he said.

    “Turkey has underlined that the consent and cooperation of the two sides are bedrock principles for the success of a peacekeeping operation, he added, noting that this has not been corrected in previous resolutions or in the one adopted today.

    Among the text’s other “shortcomings,” Apakan said, it did not fully reflect the observations of Ban who, in his recent report, underlined that the ongoing talks cannot be an open-ended process and that a critical window of opportunity is rapidly closing.

    “We believe that the resolution should have carried a stronger message towards this end,” Apakan said.

    Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu agreed during their meeting with Mr. Ban in New York on November 18 to intensify their contacts to advance progress in the negotiations, which began in 2008. It was also decided that they would meet with the Secretary-General at the end of January in Geneva.

    “In the meantime, the leaders will identify further convergences and the core issues which still need to be resolved, across all chapters. That, in turn, will help the United Nations determine its own next steps,” Ban had announced at the end of last month’s meeting.

    The core issues in the negotiations include governance and power-sharing, economy, European Union matters, property, territory and security.

  • Compromise needed in Cyprus property wrangle with Turkey

    Compromise needed in Cyprus property wrangle with Turkey

    FAMAGUSTAEntrenched property disputes on ethnically split Cyprus could be resolved if the two sides compromised on new proposals in reunification talks, a report by the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank said on Thursday.

    Peace talks, ongoing for more than two years, have stalled on how to satisfy the wishes of over 210,000 Cypriots who were displaced by inter-communal fighting in the 1960s and the Turkish invasion in 1974.

    “The flagging talks could be revived by compromises,” the report said, adding that “constructive proposals” put forward by both sides “deserve careful consideration”.

    “Both sides should seize the opportunity of the current talks to strike a realistic balance between the right to return with the rights of the current users. Time is only making a property settlement harder,” said Hugh Pope, Turkey/Cyprus country director for the ICG.

    Cyprus’s division has defied years of mediation and remains an obstacle to Turkey’s attempts to join the EU.

    The Greek and Turkish Cypriot community leaders at the peace talks should also take into account that fewer than a quarter of all displaced people on Cyprus still wished to return to their former homes, having made new homes elsewhere on the island, Pope said in the report.

    A solution to the property conundrum has so far been hampered by the opposing standpoints of the two communities. Greek Cypriots demand the right of return for all refugees displaced from the area under Turkish Cypriot control.

    Turkish Cypriots say the return of around 160,000 Greek Cypriots would lead to the effective destruction of a two-zone federated framework both sides and the United Nations has agreed should form the basis of a reunification deal.

    The two sides are due to meet U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Geneva in January to assess peace talks progress. In a report last month, Ban warned Cyprus talks could “founder fatally” if a deal were not reached by mid-2011.

    via Financialmirror.com News – Compromise needed in Cyprus property wrangle with Turkey.

  • Turkey seeks higher US profile in “Cypriot-led” peace talks

    Turkey seeks higher US profile in “Cypriot-led” peace talks

    By Stefanos Evripidou

    Published on December 1, 2010

    TURKEY WANTS the US to have a higher profile in the “Cypriot-led” peace talks on the island, according to leaked diplomatic cables gradually being released online by WikiLeaks.

    Over 250,000 documents are being leaked by the controversial website, including a number of cables sent from the US Embassy in Ankara to the State Department regarding Turkey, the EU and Cyprus.

    According to one cable, in a meeting between State Department Undersecretary William Burns and Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu on February 18, 2010, the latter urged greater US involvement in the Cyprus talks and spoke of Greek Cypriot “complacency” in the talks.

    In another cable, the Greek Cypriots and the EU were blamed for the fact that the island is still divided.

    Sinirlioglu told Burns that Turkey’s EU accession was being obstructed by the politically motivated objections of several member states, notably France, Austria and Cyprus. He reserved special criticism for French President Nicholas Sarkozy, arguing French opposition to Turkey’s membership was “deepening the cultural divide” between Christian Europe and the Muslim world. He was quoted in the briefing cable saying: “A wider audience is watching this.”

    The Turkish diplomat said he regretted perceived Greek Cypriot complacency regarding the island’s reunification talks, observing that EU “membership makes them invulnerable”.

    Greek Cypriots, he said, want the world to forget the progress achieved by the Annan Plan in 2004. They pretend relations between the island’s two communities are an internal affair, even though, by treaty, it’s been an international issue for 50 years. Former Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat’s cross-voting proposal should have been a breakthrough, but the Greek Cypriots failed to react, said Sinirlioglu.

    The Turkish official told his American counterpart that UN Special Adviser Alexander Downer was frustrated, as were the Turkish Cypriots.

    According to the cable, Sinirlioglu even predicted that the Turkish Cypriots would register their frustration by voting out Talat in the April elections and renewed Turkey’s appeal for higher profile direct US involvement in the negotiations.

    The leaked documents could also reveal some of the thinking of the State Department on Turkey’s new wave of foreign policy initiatives, including its “impressive”  acceptance of the Annan plan in 2004. Applauding Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s “zero problems” approach, one cable notes that there is no one better on the horizon than the current crop of political leaders in Turkey, despite “their special yen for destructive drama and – rhetoric”.

    On the zero problem approach, one cable warned “there is a fly in its ointment”.

    It goes on to say: “Little of true practical and final accomplishment has been achieved. Cyprus is still split (albeit the fault, at least in terms of the Annan plan, lies more with the Greek Cypriots and the EU); tensions with Greece in the Aegean continue; the Protocols with Armenia have not been ratified…”

    Cables from 2004 welcome Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s “bold” step in November 2002 to try to move Turkey away from its no-solution stance on Cyprus “in line with long-standing US desires”.

    By the December 2004 EU Council, one cable described how the Turkish PM “strode through the EU corridors of power…with his semi-pro soccer player’s swagger and phalanx of sycophantic advisors”.

    Erdogan could have been a strong contender for “European leader of the year”, said the cable, noting that he had won the start of Turkey’s accession negotiations and “broke loose three decades of frozen Turkish policy on Cyprus”, among other achievements.

    It also noted that Erdogan faced internal accusations that he had sold out Turkish national interests in Cyprus.

    Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot news outlet Kibris Postasi reported that US Ambassador to Nicosia Frank Urbancic called past and present Turkish Cypriot leaders Dervis Eroglu, Mehmet Ali Talat and Rauf Denktash to give them a heads up on the diplomatic cable leaks.

    via Turkey seeks higher US profile in “Cypriot-led” peace talks – Cyprus Mail.

  • Greek Cyprus complains to EU about Turkey’s ports ban

    Greek Cyprus complains to EU about Turkey’s ports ban

    29 November 2010, Monday / TODAY’S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL 0 0 0 0

    The Greek Cypriot administration has complained to the European Union about Turkey’s refusal to open its ports to Greek Cyprus, saying it harms their naval transportation sector.

    The Greek Cypriots presented the official complaint for discussion at a meeting of EU transportation, telecommunications and energy ministers due to convene on Tuesday, the Anatolia news agency reported on Sunday. The document argues that Turkey’s policy undermines the Greek Cypriot administration’s power to negotiate in international organizations because it causes their share in the global market to deteriorate. The Turkish policy also hampers Greek Cypriot aspirations to become a naval transportation hub in the eastern Mediterranean, the document also claims. According to Greek Cypriot estimates presented to the EU ministers, the Turkish ban costs the Greek Cypriot economy 100 million euros annually.

    Turkey refuses to open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus unless the EU implements their 2004 promise to allow trade with the Turkish Cypriots. The Greek Cypriot administration, internationally recognized as representing the entire island, as well as being a member of the EU since 2004, blocks the direct trade proposal, saying its implementation would mean recognition of the Turkish Cypriot state, which now rules the northern part of the island.

    The Greek Cypriots joined the EU days after they rejected a UN plan to reunite the Turkish and Greek parts of the island. The Turkish Cypriots, who voted for the plan, are unable to benefit from membership and are not allowed to trade with the outside world. The ports dispute also hampers Turkey’s EU accession bid: The EU froze accession negotiations on 8 out of 35 chapters due to Turkey’s refusal to open its ports and airports to traffic from member Greek Cyprus. They remain closed and EU efforts to overcome the dispute by securing partial concessions from Turkey have so far failed.

    Last week, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated that Turkey will not open its ports to Greek Cypriot vessels and goods unless the EU lifts its trade embargo on Turkish Cyprus at the same time. “If there’s a simultaneous opening of ports and airports, then we’ll be a part of it,” Erdoğan said. “No one should expect anything different.” In its complaint to the EU, Greek Cyprus said it welcomes statements from its EU partners expressing solidarity but called for more coordinated actions to put an end to Turkey’s “arbitrary and discriminatory restrictions,” Anatolia said.

    This is the second time in less than two months the Greek Cypriots complained about Turkey to the EU. At the EU ministers meeting on Oct. 13, Greek Cypriot representatives said Turkey’s refusal to open its air space to Greek Cypriot planes forces their airline companies to take longer routes, thus increasing their carbon dioxide emissions by several tons every year.

  • TRNC President: We Should Visit Geneva after A Great Preparation

    TRNC President: We Should Visit Geneva after A Great Preparation

    President Dervis Eroglu of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) said on Friday that they should visit Geneva after making a great preparation. Eroglu met with Turkish journalists at Turkish embassy in Stockholm after holding talks in Sweden.

    Eroglu said his talks in Sweden were positive and fruitful.

    TRNC President Eroglu said that it was decided in the tripartite meeting in New York that negotiations regarding the Cyprus issue would continue till January and the parties would meet in Geneva at the end of January.

    “We will meet with UN secretary general in Geneva,” he said. Eroglu said the parties should reach rapprochement in talks and they would work really hard till January.

    Eroglu said that negotiations have been continuing for six months, but no progress was achieved.

    Meanwhile, TRNC’s third representative office in EU was opened in Stockholm.

    Eroglu is expected to leave Sweden for TRNC this evening.

    AA