THE Turkish Cypriot side sees no difference between incumbent President Tassos Papadopoulos and AKEL candidate Demetris Christofias.
Hasan Ercakica, the spokesman for Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, was quoted as saying yesterday that Christofias did not put anything forward on the Cyprus issue that was different to Papadopoulos.
“Despite the fact that Mr Papadopoulos comes from the EOKA circles, and Mr Christofias comes from leftist circles, regarding the desired solution however, in his statements Mr Christofias expresses views closer to the official Greek Cypriot position,” Ercakica said.
He also criticised Christofias’ statement this week that the Greek Cypriots should make use of Turkey’s EU membership to advance the Cyprus issue.
So far, the Turkish side has avoided being seen to back one candidate or the other in the Greek Cypriot presidential elections, conscious that a Turkish endorsement would be seen as the kiss of death to the chosen candidate’s standing among Greek Cypriot voters.
The speculation is that the Turkish side would prefer to see Papadopoulos re-elected so the Cyprus problem can remain stalled, and they can continue to blame the Greek Cypriot side for lack of progress.
But coming out in favour of the incumbent could cost Papadopoulos Greek Cypriot votes if it was clear he had Turkish backing.
Yesterday, Alithia reported that Turkey was not pleased with comments made by former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder during his visit to the north last week.
According to Turkish newspaper Zaman, Schroeder brought the message that there was a movement underway in Europe to undermine Papadopoulos, but this was not apparently what the Turks wanted to hear.
The Zaman article quoted Turkish diplomatic sources as saying that Christofias as an alternative was ostensibly not in support of resolving the Cyprus issue based on the equality of the two communities.
However, the quote from the source appears to suggest that the Turkish side doesn’t want Christofias, because he might be seen as more flexible than Papadopoulos, not because he is equally inflexible. This would damage their case against Papadopoulos.
“In the event he [Christofias] wins, it will take longer for Turkey to explain to the world that he is not for a solution either,” said a Turkish diplomatic source.
This would undermine the Turkish position that it was the Greek Cypriot side that was intransigent, courtesy of Papadopoulos.
Under the Papadopoulos presidency, the Turkish side sees greater efforts being made within the international community to upgrade the ‘TRNC’
“In fact there have been serious positive steps taken not only in some European capitals but also in the Muslim world to enable the Turkish Cypriot leadership to be accepted as an interlocutor, as the Greek Cypriot leadership has increasingly been distancing itself from a solution based on the reunification of the two communities in Cyprus, in particular since its admission to the EU in 2004 as the sole representative of the island,” said Zaman.
“It is understood that in the long term, negotiated partition of the island appears to be the final solution.”
