Cyprus PIO: Turkish Press and Other Media, 01-06-01

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From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/>

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Denktash denies press reports that the National Security Council took a decision for the resumption of the talks on Cyprus.

[02] Mesut Yilmaz in the occupied areas for an eight-hour illegal visit.

[03] Stamp of the pseudostate said to have achieved international success.

[04] The National People/s Movement has established a youth branch.

[B] COMMENTS AND EDITORIALS

[05] Turkish columnist says that Denktash/s and Turkey/s policy on Cyprus is unsuccessful and harms both Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots.

[06] Turkish columnist says that the Cyprus problem affects Turkey/s future.

[07] Cengiz Candar criticizes Turkey/s Cyprus policies.

[08] Turkish columnist analyses the Military Consequences of Cyprus/ Admission to the EU.

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] Denktash denies press reports that the National Security Council took a decision for the resumption of the talks on Cyprus

Denktash was replying to journalists/ questions during a programme of Kanal T television being filmed at occupied Jasmine Court hotel.

He said he contacted Ankara following the NSC meeting last Tuesday and was briefed about its decisions. «There is no such thing as the resumption of the talks», he said and added:

«Naturally, if the Greek Cypriots renounce their desire to turn us into a minority, cease to see themselves as the government of the whole of Cyprus, accept that we are a state equal to them, and are ready to start talks for a good neighbourly cooperation and to create a peace that will ensure future tranquillity for our people, we are also ready to conduct talks».

[02] Mesut Yilmaz in the occupied areas for an eight-hour illegal visit

During his visit Mesut Yilmaz will be accompanied by Motherland Party Member of Parliament Beyhan Aslan, the Prime Ministry/s Adviser Selcuk Polat, Ambassador Barlas Ozener, the director of EU General Secretariat Sevinc Atabay and the Strategic Planning Expert of EU General Secretariat Ugur Ersoy.

The delegation will meet with the Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash and the so-called Prime Minister Dervis Eroglu.

Yilmaz will also be honoured with a doctorate degree by «Kyrenia American University».

The Turkish delegation will return to Ankara at 11:15p.m.

[03] Stamp of the pseudostate said to have achieved international success

According to a written statement by the so-called Director of Post Office of the pseudostate Gulter Kuran the decision of the European Researchers/ Unit is published in the May 2001 edition of the weekly American philatelic newspaper «Linn/s Stamp News».

Gulter Kuran further said that according to a rating carried out last October in Germany the pseudostate was 68th out of 100 best stamp selling countries, while the Republic of Cyprus 79th.

[04] The National People/s Movement has established a youth branch

[B] COMMENTS AND EDITORIAL

[05] Turkish columnist says that Denktash`s and Turkey`s policy on Cyprus is unsuccessful and harms both Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots

In his regular column «Zero point» and under the title «Why Cyprus is on fire?», Mr. Calislar refers to the recent events in the occupied areas of Cyprus and writes that Communal Liberation Party (CLP) of Mustafa Akinci has been forced to leave the pseudogovernment because Turkey wanted it. The columnist reminds also the creation of the terrorist organisation National People's Movement (NPM), which is said to be «under Denktash`s protection», as well as the bomb attack against «Avrupa» newspaper, which strongly criticizes Denktash`s policy on the Cyprus problem.

Mr. Calislar writes among other things the following: «...It is understood that the Cyprus problem will cause a serious crisis in the near future. After a two-years/ harmonisation period the Greek Cypriots will become a member of the European Union. ..What will the results of the accession of the Greek Cypriots to the EU be for the Turkish Cypriots? Furthermore, what kind of relations will Turkey have with a Cyprus which will be an EU member?

Turkey behaves harshly on this issue. The statement which the National Security Council issued two days ago, reflects this tendency. Turkey tries to solve the Cyprus problem by supporting Denktash, silencing the opposition in Cyprus and giving hard messages to Europe. Ecevit explained what solution Turkey is trying to achieve: two separate states in Cyprus. We know that Europe does not accept such a solution. ...

Is it not possible to find a formula which guarantees the equal rights of the two communities? Is Turkey`s insistence on two states right? Such a solution, which is not different from the current situation, is not in the interest of the Turkish Cypriots. The Turkish Cypriots who are forced to live with Turkey`s support, envy the Greek Cypriots who live next to them and are five times richer than themselves. Furthermore, the Turkish Cypriots are not happy of being ruled by the aid of Turkey. ...

The Cyprus cauldron is boiling again. Turkey is creating formulas aiming at the maintenance of the status quo. However, it seems that the Greek Cypriots will become an EU member in the coming years. When they get EU`s support they will obtain a more strong status. What can the Turkish Cypriots do with their state headed by Denktash? ...When Cyprus becomes a member of the EU many Turkish Cypriots will get in action in order to become EU citizens.

If only we stopped seeing the Cyprus issue as a military problem and approach it as a political one, if only we stopped regarding this matter as a `national taboo` and discussed it in all its dimensions. And the most important, if only we were not stuck to the Denktash formula which until today has proved unsuccessful. ...Because Turkey`s insistence on Denktash has harmed both herself and the Turkish Cypriots. This matter will cause a big headache to Turkey. ...I have not been able to understand what benefit the insistence on the status quo» will bring to Cyprus.

[06] Turkish columnist says that the Cyprus problem affects Turkey`s future

Mr. Engin concludes as follows: «...That is, the problem is becoming something more than a `Cyprus problem` and it is turned to a mortgage put on Turkey`s future by the current `nationalistic government`. We are falling into a trap set after a persistent effort which lasted for years by the Turkish and Greek politicians `in the triangle Turkey-Cyprus-Greece`, who do not accept Cyprus` being an independent state and do not respect the universal principle which gives to the Cypriots the right to decide for their country/s future».

[07] Cengiz Candar criticizes Turkey/s Cyprus policies

«Has Turkey given up on a "confederation"--let alone a "federation"--in Cyprus? Has the NSC [National Security Council] turned Bulent Ecevit's "Czechoslovakia example" into a policy? Is Turkey's path to the EU being laid with mines? Have we returned to the days of "partition or death [in Cyprus]"?

The NSC statement says: "At this meeting of the Council measures previously taken to strengthen the TRNC economically and the latest developments related to Cyprus were reviewed comprehensively." The statement also contains the following expression: "Finding a compromise that both sides can accept in Cyprus depends on the recognition of the sovereign equality of two states on the island. The existing two states form the beginning of any solution." Thus far this approach has not prevented Cyprus, represented by the Greek Cypriot administration, from marching toward full membership in the EU step by step. It is highly doubtful that it will do so in the future. In any event this expression is followed by a veiled warning against the EU: "The admission of south Cyprus as EU member following its unilateral application that was in violation of the 1960 agreements will not only deepen the division on the island, it will also bring peace and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean face to face with uncertainties."

This approach is one example of how a "just cause" can be lost with flawed and untenable policies. Who knows how many times the phrase "strengthen the TRNC economically" has been used until now. Was the TRNC "economically strengthened" in the past or was it "economically debilitated" each time Turkey's economic crisis was exported there?

The NSC statement underscores the "efforts of the Greek Cypriot side to maintain its status and claims which have no validity in terms of international agreements and law," but no one--including Turkey's Western allies, its ally in the Middle East, Israel, and the Turkic republics--recognizes the TRNC except Turkey and no one has been persuaded to do so. This is so because the UN Security Council has banned the recognition of the TRNC and because no state wants "to breach international law." Also why is not anyone asking whether the TRNC is compatible with the 1960 agreements?

Turkey's brighter diplomats have already begun to point out these flagrant "diplomatic contradictions." Former Foreign Minister Ilter Turkmen, the architect of the concept and declaration of the TRNC points out that "the declaration of the TRNC in 1983 was a tactical move that was mandated by the policy that was being pursued at that time." Turkmen does not agree with the Cyprus policies being pursued now. Retired Ambassador Yarim Eralp, who served as the Foreign Ministry's spokesman for many years, points out these contradictions in his very important article entitled "Czech Formula for Cyprus". "In the 1950s we had 'partition or death'; in 1960 'federal administrative structure'; in 1974 the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus; in 1983 the TRNC; in 1990 the UN Security Council Resolution on a bizonal federation; in 1997 'confederation'; and in May 2001 the 'Czech formula,' namely two separate states. This is how our positions have evolved.

"Our Positions

"No separate state can be established in Kosovo. Abkhazia cannot secede from Georgia and form a separate state. Transdniester cannot secede from Moldova. The Serb Republic cannot secede from Bosnia. Nagorno-Karabakh is Azeri territory and cannot be independent. These are our positions. At one point [Azeri President] Haydar Aliyev complained to [former Prime Minister] Tansu Ciller that the Armenians were basing their stand on Karabakh on the TRNC formula. In 1992-1995 the Foreign Ministry adopted a position to the effect that multiethnic states must be kept alive. They had Bosnia in mind in taking that position. Perhaps they should have said: 'All multiethnic states except Cyprus must be kept alive.'

"Czech Formula

"In international law this formula is based on the principle that borders can be changed by peaceful means. However all sides must agree to the change. For now there is no such agreement in Cyprus. If there were two states in Cyprus would the TRNC be admitted into the EU? Would Turkey be admitted? These questions remain unanswered.

"Also it is not very clear what principle is used in proposing a Czech formula in Cyprus and declaring that the formation of a separate state in northern Iraq is a cause for war."

This is how naked the dramatic contradictions of Turkish diplomacy are.

Ecevit echoed Turkey's reversion to the "partition in Cyprus" formula--this time embroiling the NSC into it--two days ago with the following remarks that stem from an incredible incomprehension of foreign policy: "I do not understand why the United States and the EU are so insistent about Cyprus. The example of Czechoslovakia is well known. They broke into two states and there were no problems." Cyprus cannot be compared to Czechoslovakia because:

1. Czechoslovakia broke up into the Czech Republic and Slovakia with the free will and consent of the two sides involved, namely the Czechs and the Slovaks. Moreover this was a phenomenon of the "post-Cold War" period. These two states are considered "positive examples" because their separation is considered a "peaceful divorce" contrary to the breakup of Yugoslavia by war and because they will probably reunite within the EU.

2. The Cyprus problem is left over from the "Cold War" period. There is no mutual consent about a breakup. The Turkish intervention of 1974 was based on restoring the constitutional order that was established in 1960 and that was upset [in 1974]. That intervention certainly did not envisage a total breakup, that is a "partition" which Turkey opposed for "strategic reasons." That is why the formula of a "bicommunal and bizonal federation" was developed.

Consequently in 2001 the government is reverting to [the policies of] the 1950s. Who will pay for the consequences if this reversion results in the admission of Cyprus into the EU, causes harm to the Turkish Cypriots, and closes the EU's gates in Turkey's face?

[08] Turkish columnist analyses the Military Consequences of Cyprus' Admission to the EU

«What will happen if the EU admits south Cyprus as a full member before an agreement on a solution is reached with the Turkish side?

When diplomatic observers from various circles answer this question they set their analyses in a narrow framework. For example EU countries have been hinting with a cocksure attitude that they "will admit the Greek Cypriots irrespective of what the Turkish side wants."

The United States has been urging the EU verbally to admit Turkey as a member but we do not yet know whether those are its true sentiments.

The question that matters at this time though is: What will happen if the EU admits the Greek Cypriots as members before a solution is found in Cyprus? Let us answer this with a few scenarios:

1. The TRNC closes all channels of conciliation with the Greek Cypriots and mobilizes to win recognition. When that happens Greece, the Greek Cypriots, Russia, and EU countries launch a counteroffensive to block the recognition of the TRNC. However it is known that Turkey has been making international contacts in the last two years on this issue and that 26 countries would recognize the TRNC.

The Greek Cypriots may ask the military wing of the EU to base itself in south Cyprus as soon as they join the Union. If their demand is accepted European soldiers may be deployed against TRNC troops along Greek Cypriot borders. Then, under the protection of the EU the Greek Cypriots would step up their provocations against Turkish Cypriots. The entire world knows that Turkish Cypriots would not remain onlookers in the face of such provocations. In the meantime the Turkish Republic would shelve its policy of moderation within the framework of a military agreement with the TRNC and deploy its soldiers on the island without asking anyone's permission.

However here we would like to underscore one point. If the Greek Cypriot sector is admitted to the EU, Europe, particularly Germany and France, would gain a base near the Middle East. In this possible scenario, the policies of the United States in the region would require it to recognize the TRNC. That is because the United States would not want to lose Cyprus to the EU and therefore it would provide every assistance to the TRNC.

2. The second scenario involves the TRNC's integration with Turkey in case there is an attempt to make the Turkish Cypriots a minority subject to the Greek Cypriots. The only meaning of that is that the TRNC would be a province of Turkey. If that happens the Greek Cypriots would face Turkey with a population of 65 million across their border. In that event more than a million Turkish citizens may migrate to Cyprus. Further, Turkey's military allies (for example the United States) may build bases in Turkey's province in Cyprus. Especially if the global distribution of Asian oil through Iskenderun becomes a reality the importance of the province of northern Cyprus would really increase.

If the EU admits the Greek Cypriots to full membership through a fait accomplis it would face a bad picture. Indeed in these circumstances Greek Cypriot membership would be an advantage for Turkey. So long as stability is established and traitors are purged in the TRNC».

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