SIGNS OF a major rift between Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat and the newly-elected right-wing National Unity Party (UBP) emerged over the weekend as Talat travelled to Ankara yesterday for talks with the Turkish government without his ‘foreign minister’ Huseyin Ozgurgun.
Ozgurgun, who was selected as ‘foreign minister’ following the UBP’s landslide election victory in April, refused to travel to the Turkish capital for talks with top-level Turkish government officials saying he was “too busy” to attend. It was rumoured however that Ozgurgun was upset by the makeup of Talat’s delegation, which contained no other UBP members.
The nationalist UBP won over 40 per cent of the vote in April’s election in the north, but pro-solution Talat remains the community’s chief negotiator in talks aimed at reuniting the island. Nevertheless the UBP, despite vowing not to upset ongoing talks, could still constitute a major thorn in Talat’s side if he is seen to be making what the party considers unpalatable concessions to the Greek Cypriot side.
Despite Ozgurgun’s absence in Ankara yesterday, Talat held what were described as “fruitful” discussions with Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. Today he will meet Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan before returning to the island.
The Ankara meetings come at what is seen as a critical stage in negotiations in Cyprus between Talat and Greek Cypriot President Demetris Christofias, who are currently discussing the sticky issues of security and guarantees. These are issues which involve not only Cyprus but Turkey, Greece and Britain who are signatories of the treaty of guarantee that underpinned the Cyprus Republic when it was set up in 1960. The treaty allowed the three signatories to intervene militarily if the integrity of the Republic was threatened.
“It is obvious that Talat is in Ankara to touch base with the Turkish government on the issue of security and guarantees,” head of the Cyprus Policy Centre at the Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) in Famagusta Ahmet Sozen told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.
While many will see Talat’s visit as a means of receiving instructions from Ankara on how to proceed with negotiations on the issue, Sozen says the attitude of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) gives Talat “a greater margin to persuade the [Turkish] government and the military” than previous Turkish Cypriot leaders enjoyed or sought to enjoy.
“In the past Ankara would tell the Turkish Cypriots the red lines and let them negotiate on that basis. The AKP lets the Turkish Cypriots have more say on the issue,” Sozen said yesterday, adding that it was now possible to “negotiate with army” in a way that it was never possible before.
Sozen said he believed Talat would seek to maintain “strong security guarantees” for the Turkish Cypriots from Ankara, but within a model that would be acceptable to Europe and the Greek Cypriots. This, he said, would be based on the understanding that Turkey sought a European future, which would include the Turkish military as part of a “European defence architecture”.
Speaking at a joint press conference yesterday, Turkish President Abdullah Gul hinted that security and guarantees had indeed taken up a large part of the agenda by saying that “guarantees and alliances are not issues for Greek and Turkish Cypriots; they are issues for Turkey, Greece and Britain”.
Asked why ‘foreign minister’ Ozgurgun had not attended the Ankara meetings, Talat said, “Only he can say why he is not in my delegation, but as far as I know he was busy in parliament. There was no argument”.
Ozgurgun also denied the existence of a “crisis” emerging in relations between the UBP and Talat.
However, leader of the opposition Republican Turkish Party (CTP) Ferdi Sabit Soyer accused the UBP of “exposing its objective” which he said was to “give a wink to those who would seek to sabotage peace talks”.
