UN SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES TURKEY TO SOLVE PROBLEMS WITH ARMENIA, CYPRUS
By Selcan Hacaoglu (CP)
The Canadian Press
May 21 2010
ISTANBUL — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday praised
Turkey’s contributions to world peace but encouraged it to be more
active in solving its own conflicts with Armenia and Cyprus.
Turkey said Monday it would not ratify a deal to normalize ties with
Armenia until Armenian forces were withdrawn from the Nagorno-Karabakh
enclave in Azerbaijan. On Cyprus, it insists on the lifting of
what it calls an unofficial trade embargo on the breakaway Turkish
Cypriot state in return for opening Turkey’s ports to ships and planes
from Cyprus.
"Let us build on your new diplomatic relations with Armenia," Ban said
in an address at Istanbul’s prestigious Bogazici University. "And
let us seize the opportunity in Cyprus. Talks resume next week. A
convergence of views is taking shape. We should seize this critical
moment."
The division of Cyprus — between an internationally recognized
Greek Cypriot south and a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north — is
complicating Turkey’s own accession negotiation in the European
Union. The Mediterranean island split in 1974, when Turkey invaded
after a coup by supporters of union with Greece.
"The leaders of the two communities should make a decision, people
have suffered too much, too long," Ban said. "I hope they will be
able to make a decision based on compromise and flexibility. This is
what international community really wants."
On Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Ankara was
prepared to allow planes and ships from Cyprus to use its ports and
airspace if the embargo was lifted, allowing Turkish Cypriots to
trade through its ports of Kyrenia and Famagusta and through Ercan
airport in the Cypriot capital of Nicosia.
"The world will open three ports to the Turkish Cypriots, we in Turkey
will open all our ports to Greek Cypriots. It’s a promise," he said.
Ban arrived in Istanbul to attend an international conference focusing
on restoring order in Somalia — gripped by anarchy and political
turmoil. High level officials met Friday in a preliminary session to
lay the ground for Saturday’s conference, which will be attended by
Ban and Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed.
Somalia has been mired in anarchy since 1991, allowing piracy to
flourish off its shores. Ahmed on Thursday reversed his decision to
fire the country’s prime minister amid divisions over how to combat
Islamic insurgents allegedly linked to al-Qaida, saying there is need
for unity.
The conference is co-hosted by the United Nations and Turkey, which
is keen to expand relations with African nations.
Ban welcomed Turkey’s hosting of the conference as well as its
participation in peacekeeping operations in Lebanon and Afghanistan.
He said Turkey’s mediation efforts in the nuclear standoff with Iran
and attempts to work out territorial disputes with Greece had opened
"channels of communication that might otherwise close."
Turkey and Brazil on Wednesday urged the U.N. Security Council
to refrain from more sanctions for Iran, saying a compromise they
brokered this week is the best way to resolve the dispute over Tehran’s
nuclear program.
"We hope that this and other initiatives may open the door to a
negotiated settlement," Ban said. "The International Atomic Energy
Agency will provide its own professional assessment, of course."