TURKISH Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat yesterday accused the Cypriot government of using smear tactics to “discredit and humiliate” him and accused the government of mounting a co-ordinated campaign to brand him as a separatist seeking international recognition for the north.
“In all possible ways they are working to discredit me. The government is doing it, the party leaders are doing it, and they manipulate the media to do it as well,” Talat told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.
Talat’s counterattack came in the wake of comments by Foreign Minister George Iacovou claiming that Talat’s “mask [was] slipping” and that his “intention of seeking international recognition of the north” was becoming apparent to both Cypriots and the international community.
Iacovou had said the previous day that Talat’s persistent efforts to establish direct trading links with the EU and secure direct flights to airports in the north was simply a way of furthering his long-term aim of gaining international recognition of the breakaway state he leads.
“Do they have any indication that this is the case? They only say these things because they believe that by creating such a notorious image [of me] they will gain. I am not a secessionist… [and]…from the beginning of my political life I have supported reunification,” Talat said.
He added that if countries or economic blocs traded with the north it in no way implied recognition of a separate state and again denied the north was seeking such a status.
“We are trying to ease the lives of our people until a solution. That is all,” Talat insisted.
“Recognition is a unilateral declaration by a state that it recognises another. Without a declaration of recognition there is no recognition,” he added.
Talat accused the Cyprus government of resorting to “insults” when it described him as a “Turkish puppet” and as someone who did “not even have the power to open crossing points [in the UN-controlled buffer zone]”.
He also hit out at President Tassos Papadopoulos by saying, “He says I do not have the authority to discuss guarantee and alliance agreements alone [without Turkey]. I argue that it is the same for him [with regard to Greece].”
Talat insisted Turkey in no way inhibited his authority to negotiate with the Cypriot government on matters of substance and concluded, “If he [Papadopoulos] wants an agreement, it must be with the Turkish Cypriots, and not Turkey. Turkey is a guarantor and will deal only with issue relating to that. The rest will be negotiated between the two communities.”
He did. However. claim to have the full support of Turkey in his role as chief negotiator for the Turkish Cypriot side.
“Of course we discuss and form common policies, and of course Turkey can influence me as the only country that supports me. I don’t deny this. But if any Greek Cypriot thinks he can circumvent me and negotiate directly with Turkey, they are wrong. Turkey will never negotiate with them.”
Reacting to accusations from the Cypriot government that he and Turkey were stalling over the opening of new crossing points in the Green Line Talat said: “We have done everything possible to see these crossings open while the Greek Cypriots did nothing.
They say the Turkish military is against opening the Ledra Street crossing. This is simply not true. Nobody is against more crossing points.”
Talat also countered Iacovou’s claim that EU officials were aware of Talat’s “true aims” by saying that internationally his intentions were well known and that foreign leaders knew him as someone “entrenched in the vision of a solution” to the Cyprus problem.
He also believed the EU would show understanding over Turkey’s likely refusal to allow Greek Cypriot shipping and aircraft to use Turkish ports, despite Turkey’s recent signing of an EU customs union agreement with Cyprus, and despite the danger that such a refusal could lead to delays in Turkey’s EU accession process.
“Turkey will open its ports to Greek Cypriots if they allow us to open ours,” he said, adding: “A delay [in Turkey’s accession process] is possible, but we will be able to explain [our reasoning]. They [the EU] understand us quite well and they know we are right.”
