Turkish security council weighs in on Cyprus

TURKEY’S powerful National Security Council (MGK) said yesterday it supported next month’s meeting of Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders but would not accept any settlement that endangered its national security.

Ankara has hardened its stance on Cyprus in recent weeks, saying it could annex the territories it occupies in Cyprus if the European Union admits the island without a settlement.

President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash are due to meet on December 4 for their first face-to-face talks in four years.

Diplomatic efforts to resolve the decades-long imbroglio have picked up as Cyprus, a front-running EU candidate, looks to join the western European bloc in 2004.

“Turkey will continue to support with good intentions the search for a solution both sides can accept,” the military- dominated MGK said in a statement after its monthly meeting. “Within this understanding Turkey supports Mr Denktash’s call (on Clerides) for a meeting.”

“Turkey will not accept a settlement that violates international agreements, threatens Turkey’s and the TRNC’s security and forces Turkish Cypriots beneath Greek Cypriot domination,” the MGK statement said.

The EU, which Turkey aspires to join, has said Ankara must support UN- brokered peace talks on Cyprus to begin its own accession talks. UN efforts stalled late last year.

The MGK also said it had discussed the EU’s annual progress report released earlier this month and steps Turkey would now take to meet membership criteria.

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.