Zaman, Turkey
April 27 2005

Gul: Do you Hear our Call regarding Cyprus?

Within the framework of the 44th session of the Partnership Council,
the toplevel decision body between Turkey and the European Union
(EU), Turkey conveyed all its grievences to Brussels yesterday.

Turkey replied to the 26-page EU common policy draft of expectations
from Turkey with an 18-page report. Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah
Gul expressed reproaches to the Union regarding the issues such as
the solution call made only to the Turkish side in regard to the
Cyprus issue, unilateral accusation of Turkey regarding the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-EU cooperation, calls on the
supplementary-protocol, and permanent restrictions. Despite the
attempts of the French, the so-called Armenian “genocide” allegations
were not brought to the agenda of the meeting held at the EU term
president Luxembourg.

Following the Council meeting, Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean
Asselborn, Gul and the EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn
confirmed the start of membership negotiations between the Union and
Turkey on October 3 as planned; however, it was pointed out that
problems regarding Cyprus still exist. Gul asked his counterparts and
other EU officials during the meeting: “Don’t you hear our calls
regarding Cyprus? Don’t Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s and my
calls reach you? Are there any problems? Some demands made by you
hurt us. We ask you not to do that again, please.”

Expressing his grievances to his addressees as “You enclosed the
problem despite Turkey’s objections,” Gul said: “I told them ‘ask the
Greek Cypriots whether they came here to create problems. Greek
Cypriots’ among you does not give you the right to do the wrong
thing. Ask them about these things by thinking about the greater EU
interests.'” Emphasizing that fait accompli cannot be allowed for
only one side that had entered the EU, Gul added: “The EU tried hard
to achieve a solution; however, its efforts were obstructed on the
island.” On the other hand, Asselborn only noted that Brussels should
do whatever was possible to get approval for the two EU laws that
would remove the isolation over the Turkish Republic of Northern
Cyprus (TRNC).

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress