By Andrew Adamides
THE SHOCKWAVES from Monday’s proposal by Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash for a confederal Cyprus solution continued to spread yesterday, with Turkey bristling at the Greek Cypriot dismissal of the idea.
According to Turkish Cypriot press reports, Denktash said his plan had been rejected “out of hand” by the Cyprus government, in order not to allow the Greek Cypriot people time to “ponder the proposals.”
“This is an opportunity we are proposing to the people who massacred us and deprived us of our rights to live together as human beings.” he said.
Turkey meanwhile, yesterday urged Cyprus to reconsider the proposal as a way to jump-start the stalled peace process.
“Those who don’t give the proposal the proper consideration it deserves will be sorry for losing such an opportunity,” Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Necati Utkan said in Ankara.
Utkan added that Turkey had received no formal rejection to the plan, and that Denktash planned to write to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan with a more detailed proposal.
Cyprus’ permanent mission to the UN, however, has already conveyed Clerides’ response to the proposal to Annan. A letter sent on Monday, the day the proposal was made, described it as unacceptable and “an insult” to both the UN and the international community at large.
But Turkish media yesterday quoted Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz as saying his government fully supported the proposals. Yilmaz was speaking before an Ankara Cabinet meeting on Tuesday to discuss the issue. After the meeting, Cabinet Spokesman Ahat Andican said the government had decided that Turkey’s support for the occupied areas should continue.
According to a report in the Turkish mainland paper, Cumhurriyet, the proposals had been discussed by high-level military officials and politicians in Ankara just three days before they were unveiled in Nicosia.
The international reaction to the proposals was also given much space in the Turkish press, with France’s objections described as “more Greek Cypriot than the Greek Cypriots”. Reports also noted that the US has so far withheld comment, and that the British reaction has been “cautious”.
Reaction to the Denktash plan from two Turkish Cypriot opposition parties, the Republican Turkish Party (RTP) and the New Cyprus Party was negative, with RTP leader Mehmet Ali Talat complaining that he had only been informed of the proposal at the last minute, and that his party had nothing to do with it. New Cyprus Party leader Alpay Durduran, meanwhile, described the suggested confederation as “unheard of” as a precondition for the resumption of negotiations.
