Cyprus issues

EU-Turkey trade-off opens Cyprus pandora's box
A Finnish EU presidency plan to avert a "train crash" in Turkey's membership talks has sparked intense diplomatic wrangling on the Cyprus problem, with both the Cypriot government and Turkish Cypriots tabling sensitive political demands.

Helsinki is currently promoting a plan aimed at averting a full or partial suspension of Ankara's ongoing accession talks, with the EU requiring from Turkey that it opens its ports and airports to traffic from EU member state Cyprus before the end of the year. The Finnish trade-off solution foresees that in return for Turkey fulfilling the EU's demands on Cypriot planes and vessels, the EU will make moves towards ending the economic isolation of the Turkish community in the North of Cyprus. But the Finnish plan - primarily designed to save the Turkey talks, not to solve the Cyprus problem - has opened a pandora's box on the broader issue of the future status of the island, which has been divided since Turkish forces occupied the North in 1974.

Although Helsinki has been careful not to put its ideas on paper, diplomats say it involves a UN role in supervising the Northern Cypriot port of Famagusta which would facilitate direct trade between the Turkish Cypriots and the EU. But Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat told Brussels reporters on Tuesday (10 October) that any UN role in Famagusta should not be expanded to the bordering town of Varosha – which has been deserted ever since the Greek Cypriots left. The handing over of Varosha to the UN, he said, could only be part of a "give and take" as part of a later "comprehensive" peace deal for the island. "We want unconditional lifting of the isolation of Turkish Cypriots," he said referring to a promise made by the EU after a UN peace plan was rejected by Greek Cypriots in 2004. Turkish Cypriot diplomats said they are worried they will lose out on the Finnish plans, with the EU now only seeing the Cyprus issue as a "European issue," aimed at saving ties with Ankara - but forgetting the fate of the Turkish Cypriots.

At the same time, the Cypriot government in Nicosia is unlikely to co-operate in ending the isolation of the North of the island without gaining any concessions itself. Nicosia is currently blocking a regulation on direct EU trade with the North, believing its sovereignty over the entire island is at stake. It now demands that former residents of Varosha should be allowed to return and live in the town, according to Cypriot press reports.

Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriots are demanding that any interim deal before the end of this year would also include the opening of their airport at Ergan – currently only open to flights to and from Turkey. "We are asking the inclusion of the Ergan airport," Mr Talat said highlighting the absurdity of his having to fly via Istanbul when travelling to Brussels.

But Cypriot foreign minister Yiorgos Lillikas said over the weekend that a key demand from the Turkish Cypriot side - that the end of the isolation should also include the opening of the Erkan airport in the North - is unacceptable. "The idea of opening some airports in the occupied part [of Cyprus] cannot be accepted by either the Cypriot government or the Cypriot people," he said according to Financial Times Deutschland.

Further raising the pressure on Ankara and the Turkish Cypriots, Mr Yiorgos Lillikas said in another interview with Greek newspaper To Vima over the weekend that Nicosia is ready to block Turkey's EU accession negotiations, started in October last year. "Cyprus will no longer give a 'green light' [to EU membership talks] if Turkey fails to fulfil its obligations," he said according to German news agency DPA. Even if all 24 other EU member states were to favour continuing the talks, Nicosia could still revert to its veto. "We mean what we say," Mr Lillikas said. "We will not yield again."

EuObserver