Oktay Eksi: Tango in Cyprus

Mr. Prime Minister officially and clearly declared in front of Turkish Cypriot Talat and crowd:�

"A comprehensive solution is possible only on the basis of the realities of the island. Nobody should expect Turkish Cypriots to give up the idea of self-administration, equal status and equal partnership and to accept living as a minority group.

Nobody should fall into an illusion and make efforts to change these parameters. A comprehensive solution can only be achieved with a new partnership in which Turkish Cypriot people participate equally and as a founder element."

We were not expecting him to speak so frankly given the pressures piled by the European Union.

We did not expect this because the statement made after the meeting of TRNC President Talat and the Greek Cypriot leader Christofias on July 1 was completely on the contrary with these remarks.

As you can remember “Two leaders discussed the issues of single sovereignty and citizenship which they agreed in principle,” Taye-Brook Zerihoun, U.N. special envoy to Cyprus had said following to this meeting.

With this, Turkish Cypriots had declared that it gave up on the thesis of "a new structure must be formed with two nations, equal status of two founder states, and two zones.”

Talat has not denied this declaration until now. On the contrary he defended this view to visiting Turkish Cypriot citizens, according to the presidency’s official website.

However, the only way that an agreement based on the “one sovereignty, one citizenship” principle would take the country is that TRNC would be articulated to Greek Cypriot administration that represents the state of Cyprus state and Turkish Cypriots would become minority.

Moreover, Talat gave over the “virgin birth” principle of the Annan Plan with the declaration of July 1.

The Turkish society in the island had said "yes" to Annan Plan because it included the minimum requirements they could accept.

Since the Erdogan announced that the promise Talat gave to Christofias was invalid for Turkey, we need to monitor the developments more careful and all together. At the end we all need to know who to condemn or appreciate.