TURKEY is preparing to enter a customs union agreement with Cyprus before December, and possibly also open up the ghost town of Varosha, a Turkish Cypriot newspaper reported yesterday.
Turkish Cypriot ‘Prime Minister’ Mehmet Ali Talat flies to Ankara today with ‘Foreign Minister’ Serdar Denktash as discussions get under way on Cyprus with the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
Talat, who was summoned to Ankara at the weekend for a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, will meet Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul to work out the next steps to be taken by Turkey and the administration in the north on the Cyprus issue.
According to Turkish Cypriot newspaper Kibris, Ankara is planning to join an EU Customs Union Agreement with Cyprus, something the Turkish Cypriot leadership has reservations about, but a prerequisite in Turkey’s EU accession bid. Also on the agenda is the possible opening up of the ghost town of Varosha, Kibris said.
The moves are said to be part of Ankara’s strategy to ease its path towards gaining a date for EU accession talks when it comes up for review in December.
Kibris, quoting unofficial sources, said the customs unions agreement would be signed next month with Nicosia in return for the European Commission agreeing to facilitate trade with the north. “Turkey can ask the EU for such a gesture in return for a customs union agreement with the Republic of Cyprus,” the newspaper said.
It said the second step Turkey planned to take concerned Varosha, and that a plan has already been drawn up to open the ghost town to the Greek Cypriots and third country nationals who have property in the area, because “the Turkish side will not be able to explain why it continues to keep Varosha closed”. It would, however, remain under Turkish Cypriot control.
“Varosha is the soft belly of the Papadopoulos administration. The EU, the United States, and most important of all, the United Nations favour the transfer of the property in Varosha to the legitimate owners under the Turkish side’s control,” Kibris said. “The Turkish Foreign Ministry decided, after studying the matter in depth, to have the Varosha sector of Famagusta opened under the Turkish side’s control. It has already planned the steps that will be taken for that purpose.”
On his return to the island on Monday from his meeting with Erdogan, Talat hinted that there might be developments in Cyprus in September that would have a bearing on Turkey’s EU accession course.
“I can say that we broached all the issues, be they our relations with the EU, the present phase of the Cyprus problem, latest developments in Cyprus, our relations with southern Cyprus, and our ties with Turkey, not only in terms of the Cyprus problem but also in terms of our economy and other spheres. I can say, this is the most general outline of that meeting,” Talat told reporters.
“The results will become clearer slowly in the coming days.”
Asked to comment on a possible customs union agreement between the Cyprus government and Turkey, Talat said it had been discussed. “There is no question of us reaching any agreement (with Turkey) on that issue, for in the final analysis it is Turkey’s own business,” he said.
However, he said he had submitted the Turkish Cypriot side’s views on the issue in writing to the Turkish government. Talat said no date had been fixed by Ankara for such a move.
“Besides, inclusion of Cyprus in the Customs Union means the liberalisation of trade, exchange of goods, and economic activity. And the liberalisation of the economic activity is also our demand as Turkish Cypriots,” said Talat.
“Free trade rules and our ability to freely export and import are requirements of a free economy. As such, we should take up this entire mechanism as a whole and think about it as a whole. On the one hand Cyprus will join a Customs Union with Turkey, and we on the other hand, as the TRNC, have a similar arrangement, even if it is not a Customs Union in form. The contradictions between these two arrangements must be resolved. As such the issue should be considered in an integral manner.”
He said he believed the issues would come to the EU’s attention in the days ahead.
Asked to comment on Greek Cypriot press reports on Monday suggesting the transferring of Famagusta port to EU administration, and the opening of Tymbou (Ercan) airport, Talat said the reports were unfounded. “It seems that this is a concoction of the Greek Cypriot press,” he said.
“But what is at stake is that if we are going to engage in free trade and export to the EU countries, then, as the requirement of EU laws, our port should have a certain technical and administrative capability. This team of experts could be assigned by the EU. But this will not mean the operation of the port by the EU, as the EU has no such demand, and besides there is no port anywhere else in the world operated by the EU.”
The EU has put together a package of measures to end the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots, which includes direct trade with the bloc, but under international law, traffic to both ports and airports in the north is officially barred. Rumours have been rife recently that the international community was considering allowing direct flights to the north but the reports have been dismissed by both the government and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
Foreign Minister George Iacovou was quoted yesterday as saying that the government had not even been approached on the issue of direct flights.
Commenting on the issue of direct trade between the EU and the north, Iacovou said official discussions on the issue would begin in Brussels on September 2.
The Minister warned, however, that he had sent a message to the international community saying that efforts to “downgrade” the Republic of Cyprus by lifting the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots would merely cement the partition of the island.
“Such efforts distance us from the vision of reunification and consolidate division and confrontation between the two communities,” he said.
“Today there is a systematic effort by well known circles to deviate from international law and EU regulations,” added Iacovou, referring to government’s belief that Greek Cypriots are being punished by the international community for rejecting the Annan plan last April.
