FOREIGN Minister George Iacovou said yesterday the European Commission’s measures to aid the Turkish Cypriots, particularly the move towards direct trade with the north, had political motives.
”I believe that the Regulation regarding direct trade was not necessary,” said Iacovou. “Brussels should have given a certain period of time to allow the Green Line Regulation to take effect,” he added referring to another regulation allowing internal trade between the two sides.
Iacovou said that these measures should have been tried first and if they had not worked, the EU could then have moved on towards direct trade between Turkish Cypriots and the bloc.
On Wednesday the Commission presented a series of proposals to end the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots in the wake of their ‘yes’ vote in the referendum last April on a UN plan to reunify the island. Greek Cypriots voted overwhelmingly to reject the plan, which has prompted the international community to begin steps to help the north.
The Commission’s package does not just include the contentious move towards direct trade, it calls for also financial aid of 259 million euro and a proposal for internal trade, neither of which will be opposed by the Cyprus government.
The government intends to fight the direct trade issue all the way because it believes the move will cement partition rather than bring about reunification.
The measure is also complicated by the fact that as the EU proposal refers only to trade but not the transportation of the goods from the north, the issue of the opening of Famagusta port, which is legally under the jurisdiction of the Cyprus government, has not been resolved.
Iacovou said the fact that the Commission had decided to propose the regulation on direct trade ‘proved that the motive was purely political rather than practical.
”Commissioner Verheugen has accepted that because the measures proposed are not of great economic importance. They satisfy Turkish demands for clearly political reasons,” he said.
”Information from our partners says that they are not in any hurry regarding the implementation of this specific regulation,” said Iacovou. He said the existing Green Line Regulation was sufficient to allow Turkish Cypriots to export their goods from legal ports.
He said Commissioner Gunter Verheugen actually undermined the Green Line Regulation which gave the Turkish Cypriots unlimited possibilities for export through the Republic.
Commenting on Verheugen’s revelation that President Tassos Papadopoulos had suggested the joint administration of Famagusta port, Iacovou said the Commissioner had found it interesting and said he would support such a move.
However government spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said Verheugen had not referred to Papadopoulos’ main proposal, which was the return of Varosha to its rightful inhabitants, which has been on the table since 1984. “This is something we insist on,” the spokesman said.
Chrysostomides said this proposal was made before any suggestion for joint operation of the area’s port.
Chrysostomides said the EU package had both positive and negative aspects, particularly the fact that it would voted on under qualified majority and not a unanimous decision, something the government was trying to change.
He said that so far nothing had been imposed on the Cyprus government against its will.
Commenting on statements by House President Demetris Christofias suggesting that Britain had a large hand in the package as a punishment for the Greek Cypriot ‘no’ in the referendum, Chrysostomides said Britain was supporting the EU’s efforts but did not take into account the position of the government or its legal arguments.
United Democrats deputy chairman and former government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said yesterday the measures not only upgraded the Turkish Cypriots economically but also indirectly politically “with all the unfavourable consequences that such things involve”.
“Cyprus is isolated internationally,” he said. “Unfortunately we were led to a conflict not only with the EU but with the Turkish Cypriot community, something that cannot make us optimistic for better days ahead.”
He said the only way out of the current difficulties was through strategy and logic. He said it was time for the government to abandon its inaction
“We do not say what we want and we leave events to overtake us without doing anything about it,” he added.
