Military action ‘not off bounds’ in Cyprus

Date: 12/09/02

By David Cronin in Nicosia

THE prospect of military action by Turkish forces cannot be ruled out if Cyprus is admitted to the EU without a deal ensuring equal treatment between its two main communities, a top-ranking Turkish Cypriot politician has warned

Ongoing talks initiated late last year between Cyprus' official premier Giafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash have so far failed to yield an agreement on the divided country's future. Now one of Denktash's ministers in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a state only recognised by Ankara, has pledged his people will strenuously resist any move for the entire island to be 'dragged in' to the EU.

'Greece seems to be threatening to veto the whole enlargement process unless the whole of Cyprus is accepted [as a member],' Foreign and Defence Minister Tahsin Ertugruloglu said. 'If the European Union is going to make the huge mistake of saying 'yes' to the whole geography of Cyprus, then a military conflict may not be off bounds.' He stressed, however, that the Turkish Cypriot government wished to avoid violence.

Discussions between Clerides, Denktash and UN chief Kofi Annan in Paris last weekend ended without any breakthrough. Annan nevertheless sounded an upbeat tone afterwards, saying he believed that 'though serious differences remain, the elements of a comprehensive settlement that would meet the basic needs of both sides do, in fact, exist.' He has invited the rivals to New York in early October for a further meeting.

But Ertugruloglu feels neither the UN nor the EU is helping matters by recognising the Greek Cypriot administration as the only legitimate government on the island. When the Turkish Cypriots decided in late 2001 to start talks with their counterparts, he said, 'we saw that unless things changed as far as the European Union [membership] process was concerned, we were heading towards chaos and trouble. We can't say third parties are behaving in a manner that would enable this process to be successful'.

Denktash's negotiating team have suggested that the international community should recognise the two separate states in Cyprus, both with their own sovereignty, but that they could have some common institutions. One of those, for example, could be responsible for liaising with EU bodies. In essence, the foreign minister added, the Turkish Cypriots are seeking a partnership based on equality rather than domination.

As Cyprus has made more progress than most other applicant states in placing EU laws on its statute books, it is highly probable a date for its EU accession will be named at December's Copenhagen summit. The Union's leaders decided in 1999 that a settlement to the dispute between the Greek and Turkish communities was not a precondition of accession.

Yet realpolitik has convinced many EU policy-makers that they should try to encourage a resolution of the 'Cyprus question', lest the tensions between its peoples - and by extension between Greece and Turkey - destabilise an expanded EU.

Ertugruloglu said his government wished to be integrated into the 'European family' and to join the EU alongside Turkey. Ankara last year threatened to annex northern Cyprus if the whole island joined the EU as a divided state. However, the minister claimed the term 'annex' may have been misinterpreted.

'No one in Lefkosa [the Turkish Cypriot name for Nicosia] or Ankara has any policy of annexation,' he explained. 'What we are saying is that to whatever degree that Greek Cypriots would be integrated with Greece by virtue of European Union membership, we will be integrating with Turkey [to the same extent].'

The prospect of military action by Turkish forces cannot be ruled out if Cyprus is admitted to the EU without a deal ensuring equal treatment between its two main communities, a top-ranking Turkish Cypriot politician has warned.