NO ALTERNATIVE formula aimed at averting a “train crash” between Turkey and the EU over Cyprus will be tabled before the end of the year, Finnish Ambassador to Cyprus Risto Piipponen told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.
Piipponen’s denial that an alternative proposal existed came after newspapers both north and south of the Green Line over the weekend claimed to have information that the Finnish presidency was working on one. Negotiations on its original proposal appeared to have collapsed after meetings due to take place in Helsinki between the Turkish and Cypriot governments and Turkish Cypriot community leaders on Sunday and yesterday were cancelled at the last minute.
“There is no new plan, and rumours that there are others are not correct,” Piipponen told the Cyprus Mail yesterday. “I want to underline there is no plan B,” he added.
Finland’s proposal, as well as foreseeing a limited opening of Turkish ports and airports to Cypriot trade and air traffic in return for the partial lifting of economic embargoes on the Turkish Cypriot-controlled north, also foresaw the handing over the fenced off town of Varosha back to its predominantly Greek Cypriot owners. Varosha has remained under Turkish military occupation since 1974.
But Piipponen was insistent that a compromise deal allowing Turkey to open its ports and airports to Cypriot traffic, while at the same time being seen to protect the interests of the Turkish Cypriot community, could still be found.
“This is not the end of the road. We still have a number of weeks left,” he said, adding that he thought the chance of success was “50-50”.
Turkey, however, has been seen to toughen its stance on Cyprus over the past few weeks, hinting that it would even go as far as allowing a “partial suspension” of its accession talks with the EU.
An EU diplomatic source in Cyprus, however, warned yesterday that Turkey may be exercising “wishful thinking” if it thought only a partial suspension was on the cards.
The source said Turkey’s failure to open its ports and airports to Cypriot traffic was likely to lead to a continued “de facto suspension” of the accession process, with the EU refusing to open any new accession chapters until it sorted out its problems over Cyprus.
A far worse alternative, he added, would be a formal closing of the accession process, which, if it happened, would require a “dramatic struggle” on Turkey’s part to get the process restarted.
Yesterday, Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat pledged to continue “providing positive input” to Finland’s search for a deal to head off Turkey’s suspension. He was speaking after meeting the Finnish Foreign Minister Erki Tuomioja in Brussels last Friday, which he said he had used to express the “Turkish Cypriot case”. Talat had earlier complained that it was being made to appear that if the Turkish Cypriots dropped their calls for a lifting of economic isolation, it would “clear the way for Turkey”. Yesterday, he echoed the words of the Finnish EU presidency that a search for a compromise formula could continue until the end of the Finnish presidency at the end of the year.
It had been hoped that a deal would be found before the publication of the EU’s progress report on Turkey this Wednesday. This aim has now been abandoned, and a new “deadline” of December 15, when the European Council meets in Brussels, has been earmarked as the day it will become clear how the EU will react to Turkey’s failure to open its ports to Cyprus.
A leaked draft version of Turkey’s progress report is said to be highly critical of its failure to normalise relations with Cyprus. It also criticises the country for dragging its feet in introducing reforms that would lead to greater freedom of expression and an improvement in its human rights record.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has meanwhile accused the EU of placing new obstacles on Turkey’s path to EU accession and has called on the bloc to stop asking “for things that aren’t part of the programme”. He added that the EU should be “honest and sincere” in its approach.
The Cypriot government meanwhile maintains there is no need for a compromise deal, such as the one put forward by the Fins, saying that Turkey must unconditionally open its ports and airports to Cyprus if its wishes to continue progress towards full EU membership.
Speaking yesterday, President Tassos Papadopoulos said, “Finland’s only aim is to help Turkey to fulfill its obligations to the EU”. “Cyprus’ aim,” he added, was to see “Ankara’s pledge to Nicosia” upheld.
