MEHMET Ali Talat’s election as Turkish Cypriot leader yesterday raised hopes for fresh attempts to reunify the island, but the Greek Cypriot leadership kept the world guessing whether they would play ball.
Talat, a strong supporter of the Annan plan that won Turkish Cypriot support but was rejected by Greek Cypriots in last year’s referendum, won 56 per cent of the vote in Sunday’s poll to succeed hawkish nationalist Rauf Denktash.
The tall, balding son of a farmer who once made a living by repairing refrigerators, immediately said he was extending a hand to the Greek Cypriots and to President Tassos Papadopoulos to find a way out of the current stalemate.
Diplomats say the path is open for new peace initiatives now the uncertainty of Turkish Cypriot elections is out of the way.
But they say Greek Cypriot opposition to many aspects of the UN plan for a united, federal Cyprus puts the ball well into Papadopoulos’s court.
“What (Talat’s victory) does is make life more difficult for Papadopoulos. It doesn’t mean it unblocks anything. It’s still up to him,” one EU diplomat said.
Papadopoulos said he welcomed the outcome of the election but indicated he was in no hurry to re-engage without the ground rules being agreed first.
“I believe the new round of talks must be very, very carefully prepared this time so we may create hope to reach a successful outcome,” he said during an official visit to Prague.
Analysts say Papadopoulos is holding out to try to win more concessions from Turkey, the only country that recognises the self-declared Turkish Cypriot state, before Ankara is due to start EU entry talks in October. Turkey fears failure to make progress on Cyprus could hamper its own EU membership bid.
Cyprus is an emotive issue in Turkey, where officials yesterday pledged continued “solidarity” with Turkish Cypriots.
“In this period, Turkey will continue to make every effort to secure the prosperity and peace of the Turkish Cypriot Republic,” Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said a settlement which protected Turkish Cypriot rights was a “priority”.
But Talat admits to frustration at having little immediate leverage to move the peace process along.
“It is not in my hands,” he told Reuters ahead of Sunday’s ballot. “It is difficult to endure the misbehaviour of the Greek Cypriot side, and particularly the tolerance of the EU to the non-European policies of the Greek Cypriot side.”
Turkish Cypriots feel the EU has not kept its pledge to ease trade, transport and other restrictions on the north, as a reward for their approval of the UN plan in last year’s vote.
“Turkish Cypriots are still hopeful that the EU will deliver what it promised, but this hope will not continue for ever,” said Turkish Cypriot ‘Economy Minister’ Dervis Deniz.
The European Commission said Talat’s victory set favourable conditions for more talks under UN auspices, and indicated it would press on with proposals for aid and more direct trade.
But diplomats say this will not be easy for Brussels as the Greek Cypriots can and do block such moves from within the EU.
The United Nations, angered by Papadopoulos’s campaign last year against its reunification proposals, is also wary of plunging back into Cyprus.
“I don’t think the UN is interested in climbing down,” the Nicosia-based diplomat said. “Without a significant shift in Greek Cypriot positions I don’t see a re-engagement.”
