Talat says Greeks behind tensions with EU

Despite strong protest, Greek Cypriots failed to prevent Talat`s first-ever meeting with the president of the EU Commission, Jose Manuel Barosso on Tuesday.

Talat appealed for renewed pressure on Greek Cypriots to speed up the process during his meetings with Barosso and Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn. However, he said Turkish Cypriots did not want the mediation of the European Union, which had lost neutrality due to the memberships of Greek Cyprus and Greece. Meanwhile, Barosso said they were ready to provide technical assistance to negotiations in areas concerning the harmonization of Turkish Cypriots into the EU bloc.

Barosso also expressed his expectations for a quick solution and urged Talat not to squander time over details. "Holding Turkey responsible for recent tensions over oil exploration in the Mediterranean is not fair. This is exactly why the EU cannot be a main actor," Talat said in an interview with the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review yesterday.

Agreement required
"According to the international law of seas, the Mediterranean is a closed sea which means an agreement between all parties is required in delimitation of exclusive economic zone. Turkey does not recognize Greek Cypriot administration. Thus, an agreement can only be achieved by a lasting solution to the Cyprus problem.

Europeans should ask why Greek Cypriots are rushing seismic exploration, before finalizing the reunification talks as if they were going to find oil in three days," Talat said. He claimed that this attitude was reminiscent of the Greek Cypriot insistence to deploy controversial S-300 missiles during the late '90s. Talat did not give credit to allegations that tensions over seismic research could lead to war.

Without reunification it is impossible to define the continental shelf and exclusive economic zones around the island, he added.

However, Greek Cyprus claims that Turkish warships harassed their vessels on four occasions since Nov. 13 in areas it has spotted for oil and hydrocarbon exploration. Turkey, in defence, claimed its ships were operating in its territorial waters. Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christofias sent two letters to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon complaining that the continuation of these incidents was derailing reunification talks.

According to Talat, the essence of the problem lies in the manipulative intentions of Athens plying Greek Cypriots in order to further pursue its interest against Turkey over well-known disputes in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean. "Since Greece does not want to harm bilateral ties with Turkey it uses Greek Cypriot administration to defend a cause inside the EU," Talat argued.

During talks with European leaders Talat highlighted the importance of setting a psychological threshold to wrap up the negotiations. Cyprus has had six seats in the 785-member parliament since its accession to the European Union in 2004. All seats are currently occupied by Greek Cypriots politicians.

"Greek Cypriots do not want a timetable, but for us it is a necessity. Postponement is not acceptable," Talat said. However, he also shared his impression that Greek Cypriots would drag their feet until November to put Turkey’s EU bid in jeopardy. The European Union will review whether Turkey fulfilled obligations of the Ankara Protocol by opening its ports to Greek Cypriot vessels.

Talat said negotiations with his Greek Cypriot counterpart Christofias, which started in September, were currently focused on the topic of power sharing, "more than 50 percent" of the details of how to set up a new federal government have been agreed so far but deep divisions remain on power sharing.

Power sharing, property arrangements and security guarantees remain the key issues. Christofias has suggested he would accept a rotating presidency, an idea being pushed by Talat. "This is the best way to keep the country unified," Talat said.

Before departing for Nicosia, Talat also met the British, Czech and Finnish foreign ministers in Brussels yesterday.