| Author (Person) | Bower, Helen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publisher | ProQuest Information and Learning | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series Title | In Focus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series Details | 7.12.01 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Publication Date | 07/12/2001 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Content Type | News, Overview, Topic Guide | In Focus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Background and reporting on the week's main stories in the European Union and the wider Europe The prospect of Cyprus soon becoming a member of the European Union may have provided the catalyst needed to solve the 27-year long division of the island, following successful talks between Clacfos Clerides, the Greek Cypriot President and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart, Rauf Denktash, on Tuesday 4 December 2001. The two leaders, meeting at their first direct talks for more than four years in the United Nations patrolled buffer zone on the island, agreed to meet again in January 2002 to begin negotiations which would not end until an agreement was reached on the future of the long-divided island. While the EU would prefer for a solution to the problem to be reached before enlargement, Günter Verheugen, the European Commissioner for Enlargement, pointed out in a statement, following Denktash's refusal to attend UN talks on 12 September 2001, that a solution 'is not a pre-condition for Cyprus's accession'. According to the latest Regular Report [SEC(2001)1745)] on Cyprus' progress towards accession, published in November 2001, Cyprus is among the ten candidate countries which should be able to conclude negotiations by the end of 2002 and therefore join the EU ahead of the European Parliament elections in 2004. Background
The current division of the island dates back to 20 July 1974 when Turkish troops invaded the Republic of Cyprus in response to the coup d'etat on 15 July 1974 against the legal Cyprus government by the military junta ruling Greece at the time. The international community strongly condemned the military invasion and rejected Turkey's explanations. However, Turkey ignored the international community and launched a second offensive in August 1974 seizing more than one third of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus in the northern part of the island where 70 per cent of the island's natural resources are located. This led to the displacement of some 200,000 Greek Cypriots from the northern part of the island where they had constituted 80 per cent of the inhabitants. The Turkish-Cypriots went on to declare the occupied area as an independent state in 1983 known as the 'Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus'. The move was condemned by the international community and the UN Security Council in its Resolution 541 of 1983. In fact the state has only ever been recognised by Turkey and is totally dependent on it. Three decades later, 35,000 Turkish soldiers are still stationed in the occupied area, making it, according to the UN Secretary General one of the most militarised regions in the world. Moreover, some 110,000 Turkish settlers have been brought over from Turkey to colonise the occupied area, in an attempt to change the demographic character of the island. These settlers, while Turks, are completely different culturally from the Turkish-Cypriots whose culture is very similar to their Greek counterparts. The Turkish-Cypriots are thus becoming a minority in the occupied areas and are migrating to other western countries - Turkish-Cypriot newspapers suggest that about 50,000 Turkish Cypriots emigrated from the occupied area in the three decades following the invasion because of the poor economic and social conditions there. This means that the Turkish Cypriots themselves are now outnumbered by the Turkish troops and colonists. There are several web sites which provide detailed information on the history and background of the Cyprus dispute. Of these, the Permanent Mission of Cyprus to the United Nations web page on The Cyprus Issue and the UN 1976 Paper on the Cyprus Problem offers one of the best overviews of the dispute. The Cyprus Problem web site covers the issue in depth with several notable sections on the results of the Turkish invasion including pages on:
The United Nations has been trying to broker a peace deal ever since the 1974 invasion. In 1997, it successfully got the two sides to agree on the basis for a reconciliation which has since been seen as the point from which all negotiations must start. The agreement sets out the following four key principles:
However, both sides have consistently interpreted the principles differently, especially the latter two, and this has repeatedly led to the breakdown in negotiations just when it seems as though the United Nations efforts may be about to find a solution. The UN efforts of the 1980s and 1990s are covered in detail on the Cyprus Problem's page entitled 'Detailed History' while the European Union's latest Regular Report on Cyprus also covers the UN's attempts to find a political settlement to the dispute during 2000 and up until June 2001. However, the UN-sponsored peace talks held on 4 December 2001 appear more promising with both sides agreeing to meet in January 2002 to start negotiations which will not end until an agreement is reached. Moreover, Alvara de Soto, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary- General has said the two leaders are determined to reach a settlement in six months. Indeed, the day after the meeting President Clerides made a historic trip to the Turkish occupied part of the island to join Rauf Denktash for dinner, becoming the first Greek-Cypriot President to cross the United Nations so called 'Green Line' into the occupied area since its partition 27 years ago. The UN is proposing for Cyprus to become a bi-zonal federation with a joint Greek Cypriot/ Turkish Cypriot Government in the capital Nicosia. The latest progress after years of deadlock is widely seen as a response to Cyprus' planned accession to the European Union.
Cyprus' relationship with the European Union dates back to the Association Agreement in 1972 and the relationship has evolved steadily ever since. In 1987, a Customs Union Protocol was signed, followed by the application for full membership in 1990. This application received the positive Opinion of the European Commission in 1993, which concluded that the application was made in the name of the whole island. Indeed, when accession negotiations began in March 1998 Turkish Cypriots were invited to be included in the Cypriot delegation and since the substantive negotiations for the adoption and the implementation of the EU legislation began in November 1998 a reference to the Turkish Cypriot community has been included in every position paper. To trace the development of the EU approach to the accession of Cyprus to the European Union you can use these services.
Cyprus is now considered to be one of the frontrunners in the candidate countries for accession to the European Union. By July 2001 it had concluded negotiations on 23 of the 29 chapters (a further two chapters 'institutions' and ' other' are noted but not negotiated). For more details on the chapters negotiated consult the Cyprus and EU accession negotiations website's page on chapters under negotiation. According to the latest Regular Reports on Enlargement published in November 2001 Cyprus has met the political criteria for the rule of law, human rights and an independent judiciary. The Cypriot economy is also flourishing as a result of tourism and services and according to the European Commission 'should be able to cope with competitive pressure and market forces in the Union'. Indeed the Greek-Cypriot per capita income, at 82 per cent of the EU average, is already higher than two of the EU's current members: Greece and Portugal. There are still negotiations to be concluded on agriculture but as this accounts for only 4 per cent of the nation's gross domestic product the European Commission does not foresee any problems. A tax reform that would effectively reduce the corporate tax burden to less than 20 per cent has also been proposed by the centre-right government, in the hope that this would encourage international companies to have Cyprus as their EU base. All these factors have put Cyprus on the list of countries to join in 2004, irrespective of a settlement of the island dispute. However, while the European Union is seeking to officially maintain that a solution to the island dispute is not an issue, it is clearly likely to cause tensions if it remains unresolved. The Dutch parliament has already passed a resolution saying that the EU should not admit a divided Cyprus while Greece has threatened to veto further enlargement if Cyprus' accession is blocked. Between the two extremes lies France, which some Central and Eastern European countries fear may use the Cyprus issue to block an enlargement which they are unsure about. In this context, there is no surprise that the EU is putting pressure on the two sides to resolve the dispute and there is also the issue of the EU's relationship with Turkey. The Ankara government has threatened to annex the Northern Republic of Cyprus if the EU allows the Southern Republic to join ahead of a solution being found. Even if a solution is found, Rauf Denktash has said that he does not want the Northern Republic to become an EU member ahead of Turkey which still has to make considerable political reforms and human rights improvements and will certainly not be in the first wave of new members. With all these factors, the road of Cyprus to the European Union is certainly a bumpy one and while the agreement to launch a new round of negotiations to solve the island dispute in January 2002 may have cleared a high hurdle, several obstacles remain. Not least, the actual ability of the two sides to find a solution on which they can both agree is yet to be seen. Further information within European Sources Online:
Further information can be seen in these external links:
Further and subsequent Press Releases and related sources from the European Commission relating to Cyprus can be found by inserting 'CYP' in the 'Keywords' field on RAPID European Commission: DG Enlargement
European Commission: DG External Relations
To trace adopted or proposed EU legislation which has explicit reference to Cyprus prior to its full future membership you can use either PreLex or the Legislative Observatory and insert 'Cyprus' as the subject in the 'words in title' field.
The Republic of Cyprus: Government Permanent Mission of Cyprus to the United Nations Greece: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Turkish Republic of Cyprus: President's office Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defence: Public Relations Department: Republic of Turkey: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
United Nations
Peace-Cyprus.org Hellenic Resources Network Cyprus Problem
FT.com
BBC News Online
(long-term access cannot be guaranteed) Further and subsequent information on the subject of this In Focus can be found by an 'Advanced Search' in European Sources Online by inserting 'Cyprus' in the keyword field. Helen Bower, Talks between the Greek Cypriot leader and Turkish Cypriot leader took place on 4 December 2001 in an effort to end the 27 year long division of Cyprus before it joins the European Union in 2004. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Countries / Regions | Cyprus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
