The New Anatolian, Turkey
May 25 2005

Turkish PM Shelves Annan Plan

Zeynep Gurcanli
The New Anatolian/ Ankara

The first stroke comes during Council of Europe meeting: Foreign
Ministry officials are shocked to hear the PM telling the Greek
Cypriot leader that the ‘Annan plan would not be the basis’ for
future negotiations on Cyprus

The second stroke is more open: Talking about his recent forays into
the Armenian issue, Erdogan associates his ‘successful’ policy with
‘not listening to Foreign Ministry bureaucrats’

Despite Erdogan’s claims of success in both issues, TRNC president
accuses Erdogan of being ‘cheated’ by Greek Cypriots. Moreover, the
Greek Cypriot press calls the Papadopoulos-Erdogan meeting a
‘victory’

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent foreign policy
declarations have created very deep concerns within the Foreign
Ministry. Turkish diplomats were first shocked by Erdogan’s
statements on the future of Cyprus negotiations, which were
fundamentally against Turkey’s current policy on Cyprus, and stated
his intent to abandon the Annan plan. The second shock was more
direct and blunt: Erdogan openly stated that he had succeeded with
his Armenian policy by not listening to Foreign Ministry bureaucrats.

Diplomats learned of the “Cyprus shock” during the Council of Europe
summit meeting in Warsaw, Poland last week. Both Turkish and Greek
Cypriot diplomats were shocked to hear the Turkish prime minister say
that the “Annan plan would not be the basis” for future negotiations
on Cyprus, during his discussion with Greek Cypriot leader Tassos
Papadopoulos.

Despite last year’s rejection by the Greek Cypriots of the Annan plan
in a referendum, Ankara chose a policy of insisting on the plan for a
future solution. Since last year, all Turkish politicians, even
Erdogan, have underlined the importance of the plan during their
meetings with concerned parties. But Erdogan’s words were interpreted
as a clear shift from Turkey’s Cyprus policy, which called for a
solution based on the plan prepared by UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan.

While Turkish diplomats chose to remain silent about Erdogan’s words,
the Greek Cypriot press characterized the meeting between the prime
minister and Papadopoulos as a “victory” for the Greek side, which
has been eschewing the Annan plan since the referendum.

But the Turkish Cypriot side was not as happy as the Greeks. Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Mehmet Ali Talat
reproached Erdogan for his words, claiming that the Turkish premier
had “been cheated” by the Greek Cypriots.

Second stroke: Armenian policy

Erdogan’s second shock came more openly. Talking about his recent
forays on the Armenian issue, Erdogan associated what he
characterized as “successful results” of his policy of “not listening
to Foreign Ministry bureaucrats.”

During Sunday’s AK Party Executive Board meeting, Erdogan underlined
that the AK Party government would use “Cyprus tactics” against
countries whose Parliaments have passed decisions recognizing the
so-called Armenian genocide.

Recalling that Foreign Ministry bureaucrats had suggested a “calm
approach,� and “not raising the tension,” Erdogan replied that
he would not take such warnings into consideration. “How can we be
calm while we’re losing our grip on our nation?” he asked. “To always
be defensive is not a good policy with such problems.”

But, despite Erdogan’s claims of success in both the Cyprus and
Armenian policies, Ankara has not yet found solutions to either of
the problems.

Against all expectations, Erdogan did not meet with Armenian
President Robert Kocharian during the Warsaw summit, where it was
thought they would discuss making progress on the so-called genocide
issue.

On the Cyprus problem, Ankara was criticized by its natural ally the
TRNC, but praised by the rival Greek Cypriot administration.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress