Joint announcement expected from Turks against G8

By Jean Christou

TURKEY and the Turkish Cypriots are expected make a joint announcement condemning the G8 resolution on Cyprus, Turkish Cypriot media reported yesterday.

The statement is due to be released when Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and six of his ministers visit the occupied areas in the coming weeks, said Yenidü zen, quoting a Turkish mainland newspaper.

The visit and statement is to convey a message that the Turkish side will not accept any formula that does not envisage a solution on a two-state basis. It will also say that for every step that Cyprus takes towards the EU, the Turkish side will retaliate in kind.

Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash has already warned the G8 not to intervene in Cyprus. Each time a major move is made towards pushing forward efforts on Cyprus, the Turkish side issues a joint statement with Turkey calling for closer co-operation and integration, usually in the economic sectors.

The joint declarations are used as an ever-present threat of the final integration of the breakaway regime with Turkey.

Denktash is against the G8 call to the negotiating table. He says there will be no negotiations whatsoever unless it includes his demand for a confederation.

At the summit in Germany, the seven most industrialised nations and Russia urged the United Nations to invite the two sides to talks in the autumn.

The negotiations would probably take place in the US at the beginning of October. The resolution calls on the two leaders to give their full support to comprehensive negotiations based on no preconditions, all issues on the table, a commitment in good faith to continue until a settlement is reached and full consideration of relevant UN resolutions and treaties.

The Cyprus government has said it will not for now be officially responding to the G8 resolution, and will only position itself after a relevant UN resolution, which is expected next week.

The G8 resolution is due to be discussed at today’s meeting of the National Council, the government’s advisory body on the Cyprus issue.

Meanwhile yesterday President Clerides met Dame Ann Hercus as part of the ongoing shuttle talks, which are designed to lead the process forward towards direct negotiations. Dame Ann is due to meet Denktash early next week.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.