THE BRITISH High Commission (BHC) in Nicosia yesterday confirmed that British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw had telephoned UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan and discussed the Cyprus issue in a move that has irked the government.
BHC spokesman Nigel Boud said he could confirm reports in Phileleftheros that a phonecall had taken place and that the Cyprus issue was discussed “among other things”. However he would not elaborate further.
Phileleftheros said that Straw had asked Annan, during a conversation following the decision to begin accession talks with Turkey last week, to intervene and help resume Cyprus talks. The move came about after Ankara pressured London because it feared running in to the Cyprus issue, and the thorny issue of recognition of the Republic at every stage of its EU accession course, the paper said.
Turkey is refusing to recognise Cyprus although it has signed a customs union protocol with the EU that obliges it to open its ports and airports to Cypriot air and sea traffic.
To avoid this Ankara has judged it necessary to have the Cyprus problem talks resumed on the basis of the Annan plan, which could ‘freeze’ its obligations to recognise Nicosia.
The paper said the particular tactic appears to has found favour with London and Washington, which agree that the Cyprus issue is a thorn in the side of Turkey’s accession process.
It also appears that Britain, which holds the current EU presidency, will not be pushing Ankara to have the Turkish parliament ratify the protocol, which would usher in its implementation. Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said this week the ratification was not urgent.
Government spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said yesterday he could not confirm the Straw-Annan phone conversation but he said it appears that Britain’s stance does not correspond to the decisions of the EU.
“The EU statement on September 21, says certain things, which do not appear to correspond in those adopted by Mr Straw who is connecting recognition of the Cyprus Republic with the final solution or the course of solution of the Cypriot problem,” he said.
“I have the impression that the real situation is the one that was decided collectively by the EU with the statement of September 21, and the negotiation framework is also a collective decision of Union.”
