Cyprus-Forum.com

[-mikkie2-]

http://forums.ft.com/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=646099322&f=831094803&m=427108461&r=427108461#427108461

This link may be of interest. It is a forum on the Financial Times dealing with EU expansion and Turkey. There are quite a few posts that mention Cyprus and some people there may be familiar to some of you.

[brother]

15 October 2004


Erdogan says Greek Cypriots won't block Turkey talks at summit

* The prime minister says he has received assurance from Greek Cypriot leader Papadopoulos not to veto opening of accession talks with Turkey

------------------------------------------------------------------------

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he had received assurances from Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos that his country would agree to opening of accession talks with Turkey at a summit of European Union leaders in December.

"Mr. Papadopoulos has told me that he would say 'yes' to Turkey's beginning accession talks with the European Union and that we would not face a negative attitude," Erdogan said in an interview with Greece's state-run NET television, according to Anatolia news agency.

The EU executive commission recommended last week that Turkey start entry talks and the union's 25 leaders will debate that recommendation at a Dec. 17-18 summit in Brussels. The decision could pave the way for starting entry talks as early as next year to possibly join the EU around 2015.

Greek Cypriot officials have been reportedly pushing the EU to agree to link Turkey's membership bid to the Cyprus issue and have suggested Nicosia could veto talks decision in December if Turkey does not agree to recognize the Greek Cypriot administration.

Erdogan discredited media reports, saying he has talked about the matter face-to-face with Papadopoulos. He did not say when the talk took place.

Greek Cypriots rejected a U.N. plan aimed at reunification of Cyprus at an April 24 referendum and joined the EU on May 1. Turkish Cypriots, who voted for the plan, were left out of the EU.

"I cannot accept Turkey recognizing Greek Cyprus before the Cyprus issue is settled," Turkish Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat said. "Nobody expects Turkey to do so," he told a conference in Turkish Cyprus.

He also said he did not expect Greek Cypriots to veto talks with Turkey at the December summit, unless there was a "provocative development."

[-mikkie2-]

This is a report in the Financial Times regarding the trade and aid regulation.

Greek Cypriots block EU plan to help Turkish community
By George Parker in Brussels and Vincent Boland in Ankara
Published: October 16 2004 03:00 | Last updated: October 16 2004 03:00

A European Union bid to end the economic isolation of Turkish northern Cyprus has been scuppered, after the Greek Cypriot government won a protracted battle with its EU partners.


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The Greek Cypriot authorities in Nicosia blocked a move by the European Commission to allow their Turkish counterparts to trade freely with the outside world.

The initiative has now been effectively shelved, after Britain, Germany and Sweden finally accepted they could not get the Greek Cypriots to move.

The Greek Cypriot "No" has infuriated the Commission, which wanted to bring the Turkish community into the economic mainstream.

But it revealed the power wielded by the internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government, which joined the EU on May 1, and now effectively holds a veto over moves to help the 200,000 people of the north.

The issue was settled this month after six separate meetings between EU ambassadors in Brussels, which saw Britain leading the fight on behalf of the Turkish Cypriots.

Under the deal agreed in Brussels, to be endorsed by EU foreign ministers on November 22, the Commission will shelve its plan to allow northern Cyprus to trade directly with the outside world.

Although a new timetable for progress will be agreed, Nicosia can ultimately deploy a veto, because it says the trade package would bestow international recognition on the north, occupied by Turkish troops since 1974.

The shelving of the trade deal meant Greek Cypriots were able to endorse a separate Commission plan to pump €259m ($321m, £179m) of aid into northern Cyprus to modernise the impoverished enclave.

The money was made available by the EU as a reward to the Turkish Cypriots, who voted Yes to a United Nations plan to reunite the island in a referendum on April 24. The plan was rejected by Greek Cypriots, now full members of the European Union, by a margin of 3 to 1 leaving the Turkish occupied north in the international wilderness.

The Nicosia authorities have also insisted on conditions on where money can be spent in the north, so that EU aid can only go to territory not owned by Greeks before 1974.

That means that only 15-20 per cent of the Turkish enclave can receive EU money, leaving the European Commission with a headache in how to distribute the cash.

"It's going to be difficult," said one official. "But the Greek Cypriots have us over a barrel - they are in the EU now, and there is nothing we can do."

The Commission will now aim to fund projects not tied to land, such as training schemes and agricultural machinery grants.

Britain and the other supporters of the Turkish community backed off partly to avoid antagonising the Nicosia government.

The Greek Cypriots, like the other 24 EU members, have a veto when the union decides whether to start accession talks with Turkey at a summit on December 17. Nicosia has already made it clear that its support should not be taken for granted. Additional reporting by John O'Doherty

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/8a6a8d00-1f15-11d9-9015-00000e2511c8.html

This is an example of how the EU works! Ignore a member state at your peril. This should act as a warning to Turkey.

On the other hand I am sad that the TC's won't benefit as much. But does it matter?

Recently, the Turkish Cypriot minister responsible for the economy said that the per capita income in the north had risen from $4000 to $7500 in the space of a few months! On the back of the $2bn+ property transactions in the past few months no doubt, but I do still wonder how much of that cash is staying in Cyprus!

To those espousing unity, perhaps they should allow the port at Famagusta to be opened jointly by the GC's and the TC's as a good will towards BOTH communities. This surely will foster a spirit of cooperation between the two of us to the benefit of both of us. Is this such an 'outrageous' demand?

[gm1]

hi guys I have been reading some of your posts and i thought I would add my opinion. I am a lawyer in London and have a tiny amount of experience in EU law, however my opinion is more political than legal:

On your discussion on whether Cyprus can use its veto to block out Turkish entry into the EU, technically (and leagally) Cyprus should be able to have her say. However, most importantly, both Britain and the U.S. are very keen to have Turkey join the E.U. (Some might say that this is due to help and support that Turkey has provided in a certain war!) and it would appear that what Britain and America wants to do, they seem to do. Due to this fact I suspect that Turkey will be a member sooner than we would expect. In conclusion, I would say, that it is slightly naive to assume that Cyprus will have any power to stop this, because there are far greater injustices occurring in the world than this...but they are still occuring...illegally may I add.

[brother]

Now that is what i have been saying all along.

[-mikkie2-]

gm1,

On the contrary, I do think that Cyprus finally has a way to overcome the might of the Turks.

So far Cyprus has frustrated the efforts of certain EU member states and the US and even the UN in trying to support Turkey at the expense of Cyprus and its people.

Making political decisions at the expense of the law is proving to be a great problem for certain countries. Do they break the law in order to make political statements? Doesn't that undermine the integrity of the EU? This is what we are up against. Start compromising these values and we all loose in the end. Cyprus has so far kept this on the agenda. It has highlighted the contradictions of the states that have been too hasty to make promises they can't keep.

Far from sidelining Cyprus, she has shown that even the minnows have a voice and can use it to effect.

I'm not trying to be big headed, but the facts so far have proved this to be correct. Not to say that it may not change in the future, but so far, at least until 17th December, Cyprus has a very strong hand. The next few months will ultimately decide the fate of the Cyprus propblem. I just hope that the Cypriot government plays it cards right. So far they have not done too badly.

[brother]

Actually you have been quite smug about the power of the ROC, and tassos blocking aid blah blah blah......

You talk about goodwill but you do not care of the plight of the tc, what a dissapointment that is to me i cannot even start to tell you.

But for the record this smug attitude will come back to haunt you and eating humble pie will become a hobby of requirement.

[-mikkie2-]

Brother,

I am not trying to be smug.

I am simply stating the facts as they are at the present time.

I DO care about what happens to all of us. What we differ is on how to go about it. Yielding to Turkey is not the way to do it.

Turkey has been smug about what it has done in Cyprus for the past 30 years! It is they that will have to shoulder much responsibility and it is they that will pay the price!

If you stop and think rationally about what has happened in the past 6 months, you have to say that most people have been wrong. That is not being smug. I am simply stating the facts as they are now.

[brother]

mikkie the facts stand as such that tassos is ensuring that the tc stay in the wilderness, while he says he is fighting for your rights including property and settlers what about the tc rights, they are at the moment being trampled to death as our suffering is 30 years plus and ongoing, and do not hit me with the turkeys fault bit, there is as much fault in tassos as in turkey as it was in his power to ease the problems for this side of the fence instead he chooses to block everything.

ALL I ASK IS PUT YOURSELF IN THE TC POSITION AND THEN TELL ME WHAT YOU FEEL ABOUT IT, AND THEN WE START TO UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER.

I HAVE ALWAYS TRIED TO VIEW THE GC POINT OF VIEW HENCE I SUPPORT YOUR WANTS AND NEEDS LIKE THE PROPERTY ISSUES ETC.

[-mikkie2-]

Brother,

I do not believe that Tassos does not care about the TC's. I think he does.

He is fighting for the INDIVIDUAL rights of everyone. At the moment our individual rights are compromised, both yours and ours.

I agree that Tassos could do more to help out the TC's. What he cannot do though is to delegate powers to TC politicians because the TC politicians are under the control of Turkey.

The fact is that thousands of TCs have jobs in the south, tourists that come in via the south can go and stay in the north, there is a means where trade can be done between north and south although I agree that at this moment in time there are difficulties, on the one side our insistance that proper procedureas are followed and on the other your politicians reluctance to use this means of trade for political reasons, many TCs have taken advantage of an EU passport to be able to get cheap higher education in Europe, particularly the UK. In fact there is a notable increase in the numbers of TC students in Britain this year. All these are positive things which help the TC's.

To do more, well we must allow those TC's that wish to have their property back to be allowed to do so, but only if they are to live in the south. There is obviously a number of TC's that wish to do that so I believe that they should not be hindered. Economically, we could invest in infrastructure projects in the north and in the process create jobs in the north.

But as long as your TC politicians insist in covering themselves in the veil of illegality there is not much more we can do to help.