WHILE TURKISH EU Minister Egemen Bagis busied himself whipping up a storm among Cypriot MEPs in Brussels, President Demetris Christofias laid into Turkey’s lack of desire for a solution at this time.
In a speech given at the European Policy Centre in Brussels, Christofias told his audience that the peace talks have failed to yield the expected results, adding: “My experiences from the negotiations of the last two years make me believe that Turkey is not ready yet to make Cyprus a priority and to take the decisions that would lead to a solution.”
A day earlier, Cyprus’ position as a member state of the EU was put into doubt by Bagis who questioned whether the Cyprus Republic was even a state before the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, causing a walkout by Cypriot and Greek MEPs as well as some Dutch and Polish MEPs.
From Brussels, the president argued that the fact the talks were of “Cypriot ownership” did not exonerate Turkey from its own responsibilities. He called on Europeans to judge Turkey’s willingness and sincerity for a solution, as well as that of the Greek Cypriot community, “from the actual content of the proposals and positions submitted at the negotiating table…and not just through public statements and declarations made by the sides”.
Turkey publicly proclaims that it wishes for a settlement by the end of the year, yet “it does nothing in practice towards that direction”, he said.
Christofias also reminded that Turkey had yet to fulfill any of its obligations towards the EU relating to Cyprus. “Turkey needs to finally realise that its disregard of fundamental EU rules and the failure to fulfill its contractual obligations cannot continue without consequence but can seriously affect its accession process.”
While Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule stood by the legal basis for the controversial direct trade regulation on Tuesday, the president yesterday stressed: “There is no place in this process for proposals like the one relating to trade with the occupied areas”.
“The dividing line in Cyprus cannot and should not become an external border of the Union,” he added.
On the latest confidence-building measure, Christofias noted that the government “worked very hard over a period of 18 months to overcome a multitude of obstacles imposed by the Turkish troops, in order to make the opening of the Limnitis crossing point possible”.
Meanwhile, a planned discussion on the Cyprus problem in the Joint Parliamentary Committee was cancelled yesterday. CyBC’s Brussels correspondent said the official reason was the overburdened schedule, though Bagis’ comments on “two states, two peoples” and question marks posed over the status of EU member Cyprus might have played their part.
Parties across the board yesterday slammed Bagis for showing disrespect to Cyprus and the EU’s institutions and principles.
Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou described the comments as “unacceptable” and displaying a “lack of good will on the part of Turkey”.
“Whether Bagis knows or not about the existence of Cyprus, it exists and is recognised by the entire international community and all states on the planet, except Turkey,” he said.
