THE GOVERNMENT yesterday condemned Turkey’s threat of unlimited retaliation if a divided Cyprus joined the European Union as “unacceptable”.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem told a news conference in occupied Nicosia on Wednesday that the Turkish reaction were Cyprus to join the EU ahead of a solution “would have no limits”.
“Mr Cem and Turkey repeated positions that can solve no problems in the region. They can only create problems,” Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.
“Turkish diplomacy is obviously trying to increase its pressure and threats on the EU, hoping that they will block Cyprus’ accession at the last minute,” he said.
But chief EU negotiator and former President George Vassiliou told the Cyprus Mail that Cem’s comments should be taken “with a pinch of salt” and doubted their sincerity.
“It’s possible that these statements are intended for internal consumption to show their public, ‘you see we have threatened, we have said what we should say and so on’. I don’t think Turkey can really implement any serious action. I don’t see Turkey attacking Cyprus. I don’t think that it will benefit her if they were to annex the occupied areas. It would simply keep Turkey out of the European Union forever,” said Vassiliou.
“We have to maintain our sang-froid and avoid any kind of statements that are inflammatory in one way or another, pointing out the desire for a solution and continuing the negotiations.”
Party politicians launched an immediate flurry of outspoken criticism following Cem’s statements, but Vassiliou dismissed the rhetoric as part and parcel of the pre-election period.
“Mr Cem’s best advice would have been to ask Mr Denktash to come back to the negotiating table and hopefully to reach a solution prior to succession. But if there is no solution before, then Cyprus will join. That is the best motivation for Turkey to recognise that something must be done.”
“Greece has convinced everybody in Europe and in Turkey that she is genuinely interested in improving relations. It has turned the so-called Greek-Turkish differences into Turkish-European Union differences and strengthened the role of Greece in the Union and in the Balkans. [So] it is even more difficult for Mr Cem to behave like that, because the public sees the difference. On the one hand you have Greece trying to reach out and on the other, old-style nationalistic statements from Mr Cem,” said Vassiliou.
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.
