A POLITICAL settlement in Cyprus cannot come from the Greek Cypriots without Turkey’s good will and Ankara’s willingness to achieve this objective, President Tassos Papadopoulos said yesterday.
Papadopoulos was commenting on the outcome of Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Turkey, where incumbent Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s AK party was re-elected with an encouraging majority. Papadopoulos said Nicosia and Athens had been monitoring the developments in Turkey and would discuss the matter soon.
“We believe it is premature and irresponsible to draw any conclusions at this early stage, as far as political developments in Turkey are concerned,” Papadopoulos said, when asked to comment.
He pointed out that irrespective of what happens, the elections would have repercussions on the Cyprus problem as well.
“Our position remains firm. I hope that the wish for the democratisation of the country and for normalisation of its accession to the European Union will have more positive developments with regard to Turkey’s positions on Cyprus,” he added.
Concluding, the President pointed out that “we all know that the Greek Cypriots will not solve the Cyprus problem without Turkey’s good-will and willingness to do so”.
Sunday’s elections saw Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) increase its share of the public’s vote by more than 12 points from 2002 to 46.4 per cent – the largest for any single party since 1969.
Erdogan, 53, has overseen strong economic growth and enjoys wide popularity in the country of 70 million. On Sunday he told a crowd of supporters outside the party headquarters in Ankara that he would press on with economic reforms and the country’s bid to join the European Union.
“We share a common goal – to turn Turkey into a powerful and flourishing state – and we will pursue this goal with every step,” the premier said.
Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato Kazakou-Markoulli said she believed that despite the outcome of the Turkish elections, a change in the role of the Turkish military had not arrived yet.
“What is important is to see whether the military will continue to hold the key to the so-called national issues, including the Cyprus problem,” she said.
Responding to questions on her way to Brussels to attend the European Union General Affairs Council, she said that the time is not yet ripe in Turkey for “drastic reforms, a domestic revolution to minimise the role of the military, which is what Cyprus wants to see.”
Markoulli, the first woman Foreign Minister in Cyprus, said a rise in Erdogan’s share of the vote was not that important and pointed out that Nicosia wishes to see the role of the military reduced.
Meanwhile, Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis hailed Erdogan’s election victory.
“I congratulate Mr Erdogan on his success in the election and I hope it will contribute to Turkey fulfilling all the obligations it has taken on its way to European Union membership,” Karamanlis told journalists in Sarajevo.
“A democratic Turkey is in everyone’s interest, primarily in the interest of its people, but also in the interest of the entire region and Europe,” he added.
Greek newspaper Ta Nea yesterday called the AKP win “a slap in the face for Turkey’s secular military”, which had accused the party of trying to undermine the country’s Kemalist foundations and threatened to step in to defend it.
