 |
Turkey warns Cyprus talks can’t go on forever
Last week, a day after the Turkish capital said it wanted talks aimed at reunifying the ethnically divided island to conclude soon, with a referendum by the end of the year, a senior Greek Cypriot official said that the pace of Cyprus reunification talks offers little prospect of a deal and referendum in the timeframe sought by Turkey.
In a speech delivered at a ceremony on Monday marking the 35th anniversary of the 1974 Turkish military intervention, which is celebrated as Peace and Freedom Day in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek said Ankara has always assumed a policy in favor of resolution of the Cyprus problem. “That's why, as the motherland and guarantor country, we are assuming a resolution-oriented policy together with the KKTC. Nonetheless, nobody should make the mistake of supposing that the Turkish sides may sacrifice their indispensable rights due to this policy,” Çiçek said, in an apparent response to the Greek Cypriot side, which recently said continuation of Turkey's security guarantees and the Turkish military presence on the island would be unacceptable under a new peace agreement.
Greek Cyprus to keep blocking Turkey on EU energy chapterGreek Cyprus said on Monday it would keep up its block on Turkey opening its energy chapter with the European Union, accusing its neighbor of being a “bully” in a dispute with the island over oil exploration. Greek Cyprus, which joined the EU in 2004, is at loggerheads with Turkey over its long-running division and over plans the island has to start hydrocarbons exploration in the east Mediterranean. Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) say Greek Cypriots have no authority to explore for oil or gas. “The energy chapter cannot open while Turkey is attempting to block the Republic of Cyprus, an EU member state, from utilizing its own energy sources in accordance with international law,” Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister Markos Kyprianou said. “While it is behaving like the classroom bully, obviously Cyprus cannot give its consent,” he told reporters. The internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government represents Cyprus in the EU, where Turkish membership talks have been blocked in several areas because of Ankara's refusal to open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot traffic. Due to its geographical position between energy-rich Central Asia and Europe, Turkey sees its potential for being the bloc's strategic energy partner as one of the strongest arguments for accession. But it has been frustrated by the objections from the Greek Cypriots. Ankara Reuters with Today's Zaman |
Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat and Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christofias launched UN-led peace talks in September 2008 aimed at finding a comprehensive solution to the division of the island.
“We believe that it is possible to reach a comprehensive resolution by the end of 2009 if all the related parties act with a constructive understanding like the Turkish Cypriot side does,” Çiçek said. “Everybody should understand that negotiations cannot go on forever and the current window of opportunity cannot remain open forever. Reaching the goal of a comprehensive resolution is in the best interest of all parties, without exception,” he said, stressing that the Cyprus issue should not be linked to Turkey's European Union membership process.
“It should be known that it is impossible for Turkey to give up its responsibilities as the motherland and guarantor country. Turkey will never get engaged in the dilemma of ‘either Cyprus or EU',” he added.
In Athens, Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis on Sunday promised that that his countrymen “would not forget the Turkish invasion of Cyprus” on the 35th anniversary of the Turkish intervention.
Karamanlis said Greece would keep up pressure to end the division of the Mediterranean island and to bring down “the last barrier still standing on the European territory.”
“The anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus is a day to remember and at the same time confirm our commitment to searching for a fair and workable solution to the Cyprus problem,” he said in a statement.
While Athens and the Cypriot Embassy organized a religious ceremony in an Orthodox church in the Greek capital to commemorate the Greek Cypriots killed during the Turkish operation, some 400 Greek Cypriots held a demonstration in front of the Turkish Embassy in London on Sunday.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BERİL DEDEOĞLU |  |
||
| Yemen and beyond | |||
| ABDULLAH BOZKURT |  |
||
| Turkey and Mexico: Distant yet so close | |||
| ABDÜLHAMİT BİLİCİ |  |
||
| Google kidnaps Gül! | |||
| İHSAN YILMAZ |  |
||
| The Egyptian elections, Islam and Islamists | |||
| MARKAR ESAYAN |  |
||
| There is need for a new initiative | |||
| EMRE USLU |  |
||
| Operational errors | |||
| HASAN KANBOLAT |  |
||
| Are Russian tourists being discouraged from visiting Turkey? | |||
| CHARLOTTE MCPHERSON |  |
||
| The modern ‘Great Game’: women’s role and status | |||
| KLAUS JURGENS |  |
||
| Back to the ’80s | |||
| KATHY HAMILTON |  |
||
| Random acts of violence | |||
| MERVE BÜŞRA ÖZTÜRK |  |
||
| Adding insult to injury in Uludere | |||
| NICOLE POPE |  |
||
| Shifting responsibility | |||
| YAVUZ BAYDAR |  |
||
| ‘Errorism’ | |||
| ORHAN MİROĞLU |  |
||
| ‘Strategic vision’ | |||
| ORHAN KEMAL CENGİZ |  |
||
| Turkey through Amnesty International’s eyes | |||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
