Turks Under Pressure As Cyprus Completes EU Accession Process

by Lorys Charalambous, Tax-News.com, Nicosia

27 May 2002

As Cyprus edges ever closer to finalising its EU accession process, pressure is mounting from all quarters on Turkey to bend enough to allow a resolution to the bogged-down reunification talks in Nicosia between Presidents Rauf Denktash and Glafcos Clerides.

Cyprus's chief negotiator with the EU, George Vassiliou announced after a meeting with Michael Leigh, Director-General of the enlargement process, last week that Cyprus had 'basically closed' the competition chapter and was close to closing major parts of the agriculture chapter. 'Negotiations are proceeding very well', said Leigh, while Vassiliou went as far as to say: 'It can be said that Cyprus has successfully concluded the accession negotiations with the EU'.

The other unclosed chapter is that relating to the EU budget. While it is a problematic area, there are no special problems affecting Cyprus as distinct from any other applicant country. But if the accession process is done and dusted as far as negotiations are concerned, the same can't be said for the negotiations over reunification.

Nothing said by the Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash gives the slightest hope that he plans to be flexible. Britain and Russia were among the powers calling for movement on the Turkish side last week. Lord David Hannay, London's special envoy for Cyprus, said that negotiations had reached a critical stage, and warned of negative consequences if the current peace talks failed, while Russia's special envoy, Vladimir Prygin, called on the Turkish side to be more constructive and positive. Prygin said that the Russian government is not satisfied with the progress of negotiations so far.

Meanwhile the 21st EU-Cyprus joint parliamentary committee concluded proceedings in Nicosia at the weekend by reaffirming what has become a solid EU line on Cyprus: that the island will join the EU reunited or otherwise, irrespective of a solution to the political problem between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Euro MPs on the Committee blamed Rauf Denktash for the impasse in talks, while Tasso Papdopoulos, co-chairman of the Committee, said that if Turkey were to respond to Cyprus's accession by 'annexing' the north, then this would invalidate Turkey's partnership agreement with the EU.

As so often, it is the Americans, long-term friends of Turkey and with major bases on its territory, who hold the eventual key to unlock the situation. Rumours last week that the US was prepared to allow Turkey to have sovereignty over the north of Cyprus in exchange for cooperation over an attack on Iraq and the creation of a separate Kurdish state can probably be discounted. George Bush's love-fest with Vladimir Putin may be more important: Russia has been Turkey's long-time foe, and won't lose the opportunity to press an anti-Turkish agenda with the US.

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