Erdoğan warns Cyprus on peace
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Hürriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Nisan 22, 2009 00:00
ANKARA - The ruling Justice and Development Party warns the newly elected hardline northern Cyprus government not to stray from the path of peace and not to undermine Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat. ’It would be very wrong for the new government to end the negotiations,’ Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan yesterday warned the hardliner who won the Turkish Cypriot election against breaking off or disrupting peace talks with the Greek Cypriots.
"It would be very wrong for the new government to end the negotiations or to continue the negotiations on a basis different than the one that has been followed so far," Erdoğan said in a speech to members of his ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP.
"The process must continue exactly as before ... We will never support a move that would weaken the hand" of Turkish Cypriot former President and chief negotiator Mehmet Ali Talat, he said in the speech broadcast on television.
Erdoğan was reacting to Derviş Eroğlu, prime minister-elect of northern Cyprus who said Cyprus's reunification should be based on "two states," not on a federal model. In 2004, Greek Cypriots rejected a framework for reunification under a loose federal model supported by then-U.N. chief Kofi Annan.
At a press conference the same day, President Abdullah Gül highlighted that Talat was representing the Turkish Cypriots in negotiations with Greek Cypriots. Talat has been negotiating for a bizonal federation with Greek Cypriot President Demetris Christofias in U.N.-sponsored talks, which were launched last September.
In his address to deputies, main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, leader Deniz Baykal called for respect for the political will. "I hope that there will be no fait accompli or outside pressure on Cyprus in the coming period and political will is respected and the quest for reconciliation continues," said Baykal.
He accused the West of interfering in Turkish Cypriot politics via the AKP during the referendum of a U.N.-backed plan in April 2004. He said the plan was accepted by Turkish Cypriots but that nothing had changed, a development evidenced by Sunday’s election results.
The return of Eroğlu and his National Unity Party, or UBP, to power in Sunday's elections has raised concerns over the reunification negotiations, although he moved quickly to assure the international community the talks would continue. The partition of Cyprus remains a major stumbling block for Turkey's own bid to join the European Union.
Talat meets counterpart
Meanwhile, Talat and Christofias met in the buffer zone in Cyprus yesterday for their 26th meeting. The two leaders discussed economy-related issues under the negotiations aimed at finding a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus issue.
Following the meeting, the U.N. secretary-general's special representative to Cyprus, Taye Brook Zerihoun, told reporters that the Cypriot leaders would meet again May 5 because both he and U.N. Special Envoy to Cyprus Alexander Downer would leave for New York next week to hold a series of talks.
The U.N. did not envisage any problem in the Cyprus negotiation process, Zerihoun said, referring to the general elections in northern Cyprus on April 19, which resulted in the success of the UBP.
The two sides of the Island of Cyprus
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, or its Turkish acronym KKTC, are the names used in Turkey and in the northern third of the island to describe the Turkish-controlled portion that declared its independence in 1983. Internationally, the Greek administration in the south is recognized and the island is referred to as the Republic of Cyprus.
Once part of the Ottoman Empire, the island formally became a British colony at the end of World War I with Turkey relinquishing its sovereignty in 1923. In 1960, the island became an independent republic. After repeated outbreaks of violence between the Greek and Turkish populations, the military government of Greece launched a coup in 1974 seeking to annex the island to Greece. Turkey intervened in response. In a 2004 referendum, Turkish Cyprus accepted a EU-backed plan to unify the island. The ethnic Greek community rejected it, but the Greek-led Republic of Cyprus was let into the EU. For purposes of clarity, the Daily News generally uses the terms Turkish Cyprus and Greek Cyprus to refer to the two sides.
"It would be very wrong for the new government to end the negotiations or to continue the negotiations on a basis different than the one that has been followed so far," Erdoğan said in a speech to members of his ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP.
"The process must continue exactly as before ... We will never support a move that would weaken the hand" of Turkish Cypriot former President and chief negotiator Mehmet Ali Talat, he said in the speech broadcast on television.
Erdoğan was reacting to Derviş Eroğlu, prime minister-elect of northern Cyprus who said Cyprus's reunification should be based on "two states," not on a federal model. In 2004, Greek Cypriots rejected a framework for reunification under a loose federal model supported by then-U.N. chief Kofi Annan.
At a press conference the same day, President Abdullah Gül highlighted that Talat was representing the Turkish Cypriots in negotiations with Greek Cypriots. Talat has been negotiating for a bizonal federation with Greek Cypriot President Demetris Christofias in U.N.-sponsored talks, which were launched last September.
In his address to deputies, main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, leader Deniz Baykal called for respect for the political will. "I hope that there will be no fait accompli or outside pressure on Cyprus in the coming period and political will is respected and the quest for reconciliation continues," said Baykal.
He accused the West of interfering in Turkish Cypriot politics via the AKP during the referendum of a U.N.-backed plan in April 2004. He said the plan was accepted by Turkish Cypriots but that nothing had changed, a development evidenced by Sunday’s election results.
The return of Eroğlu and his National Unity Party, or UBP, to power in Sunday's elections has raised concerns over the reunification negotiations, although he moved quickly to assure the international community the talks would continue. The partition of Cyprus remains a major stumbling block for Turkey's own bid to join the European Union.
Talat meets counterpart
Meanwhile, Talat and Christofias met in the buffer zone in Cyprus yesterday for their 26th meeting. The two leaders discussed economy-related issues under the negotiations aimed at finding a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus issue.
Following the meeting, the U.N. secretary-general's special representative to Cyprus, Taye Brook Zerihoun, told reporters that the Cypriot leaders would meet again May 5 because both he and U.N. Special Envoy to Cyprus Alexander Downer would leave for New York next week to hold a series of talks.
The U.N. did not envisage any problem in the Cyprus negotiation process, Zerihoun said, referring to the general elections in northern Cyprus on April 19, which resulted in the success of the UBP.
The two sides of the Island of Cyprus
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, or its Turkish acronym KKTC, are the names used in Turkey and in the northern third of the island to describe the Turkish-controlled portion that declared its independence in 1983. Internationally, the Greek administration in the south is recognized and the island is referred to as the Republic of Cyprus.
Once part of the Ottoman Empire, the island formally became a British colony at the end of World War I with Turkey relinquishing its sovereignty in 1923. In 1960, the island became an independent republic. After repeated outbreaks of violence between the Greek and Turkish populations, the military government of Greece launched a coup in 1974 seeking to annex the island to Greece. Turkey intervened in response. In a 2004 referendum, Turkish Cyprus accepted a EU-backed plan to unify the island. The ethnic Greek community rejected it, but the Greek-led Republic of Cyprus was let into the EU. For purposes of clarity, the Daily News generally uses the terms Turkish Cyprus and Greek Cyprus to refer to the two sides.