Deutsche Presse-Agentur
December 27, 2004, Monday
02:05:08 Central European Time

Cyprus still facing uncertain future

By Masis der Parthogh

Nicosia

When Cyprus joined the European Union on May 1, celebrations on the
island were muted, unlike the mood in the nine other new enlargement
states. The year had kicked off uneasily after United Nations
Secretary General Kofi Annan had tried to secure a solution that
would have reunited the island after a 30 years of division. The U.N.
chief finalised a document initially conceived in November 2002 and
put it to separate referenda to the main Greek Cypriot and Turkish
Cypriot communities. The former rejected the plan outright as it
failed to guarantee the pullout of Turkey’s 35,000-strong garrison
stationed in the north since Ankara invaded and occupied the
territory in 1974. No other assurances were given about the reduction
of the 65,000 settlers from Anatolia either. On the other hand, the
majority of Turkish Cypriots embraced the “Annan Plan” in the April
24 poll, saying it brought them closer to autonomy within a federal
state of two equal partners. In theory, at least, Europe had expected
a reunited Cyprus to join the Union, with several phases of the U.N.
plan already implemented by summer, when a significant number of
Greek Cypriot refugees would have returned to the lands they lost
three decades earlier. However, the “No” vote of the Greek Cypriot
referendum left a bitter feeling among both communities, with the
Turkish Cypriots expressing greater mistrust and pushing them closer
to the patronage of Ankara. Incentives were supposed to come into
force throughout the year to encourage trade and movement along the
180-kilometre “Green Line” of division. Barbed wire still separates
the 700,000 Orthodox Greek Cypriots from the 200,000 Moslem Turkish
Cypriots, with only five checkpoints where people can make the
crossing to the other side. Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos was
widely expected to cast a veto at the December 17 summit in Brussels
and block Turkey from joining the E.U. unless it offered full
recognition to all ten new member states through an extension of the
Customs Union agreement. The Dutch Presidency intervened and reached
a compromise, partly satisfying the British and U.S. demands for
Turkey’s unconditional membership, while the Greek Cypriots may
exercise their veto prior to the October 3 start of accession talks
with Ankara. “I warned my (E.U.) counterparts that if Turkey does not
meet its commitments, we reserve the right to block the start of
accession negotiations, estimated to begin on October 3,”
Papadopoulos said in media interviews. But he ruled out any
re-engagement on the same U.N. plan he led Greek Cypriots to reject
in April. “As it stands, that plan is never going to be put before
the people again.” This is where Turkey’s abilities to reach a
compromise will come in, as it has to persuade the U.N. chief and
public opinion of its clear intentions to help resolve the Cyprus
dispute, while respecting human rights in its own country as regards
religious freedom, Kurdish rights and recognition of the Armenian
genocide in 1915. Failure to do so will put on hold all its hopes of
ever joining the European club within the next 15 years or so, during
which time the “Cyprus problem” would remain unresolved and the
Turkish Cypriots would still be over-dependent on handouts from
Ankara. dpa mdp ch