ANKARA expects Athens to support its efforts within the EU to put an end to the economic isolation of the Turkish Cypriots, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul was quoted as saying yesterday.
The comments come a day before discussions on aid and trade to the Turkish Cypriots by the permanent representatives of European Union (COREPER) in Brussels today.
Gul said that he and his Greek counterpart Petros Molyvatis had exchanged views on the possible arrangements that the EU was planning to make for the Turkish Cypriots. “We expect Greece to support our efforts to put an end to isolation of Turkish Cypriot side. Also, we expect the EU to enforce its commitments to this end,” Gul said.
Molyviatis said Greece supported the initiative to lift the economic isolation of the Turkish Cypriots as part of efforts to find a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus problem.
The EU put together a series of measures to end the economic isolation of the Turkish Cypriots as a reward for the community’s ‘yes’ vote in April’s referendum on the Annan reunification plan.
The regulation on intra-island trade has already been implemented, but the proposals for 259 million euros in aid and direct trade between Turkish Cypriots and the EU is still pending.
The Cyprus government agrees in principle with the financial aid, but is strongly opposed to the direct trade and says that Turkish Cypriots can use the intra-island trade regulation to move their goods to Europe.
The government is holding up the process on a legal technicality, saying it wants the direct trade proposal to be voted on as a unanimous decision in the European Commission, and not by qualified majority vote, which nullifies Nicosia’s veto.
Legal experts at the European Council agree, but the Commission has taken a different view, which government officials say is a result of British efforts to have both proposals approved as a package.
Cyprus wants a postponement of any discussion on direct trade between Turkish Cypriots and the EU for between three and six months in order to prove that intra-island trade regulations will render the move unnecessary.
However, the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce, the only authorised body to issue certificates of origin to Turkish Cypriot suppliers who wish to trade across the Green Line, says the direct trade is not working.
In a letter to the Dutch presidency, Chamber president Ali Erel said that the intra-island trade was “not going to create miracles for the economic development of the Turkish Cypriot community”.
“We must now concentrate urgently on the need for the direct trade regulation proposed by the Commission,” the letter said, adding that the Turkish Cypriot side did not agree with the view that ‘any measure cannot be taken towards the north, short of extension of the acquis’.”
He said the north could not be treated as a part of the EU as the application of the acquis had been suspended until a solution. “Therefore the intention behind the Regulation is to create a trade regime, for the goods originating in the north to be exported to the EU Member states,” he said.
Erel said that since August 23, when the intra-island trade came into effect, the Chamber has issued 39 certificates, amounting to around 27,216 euros worth of trading in a month.
“This, for sure, is not going to make the Turkish Cypriots any richer!” said Erel. “Even under heavy isolation, average exports of North Cyprus are around 7 million euros per month. To sum up, reaching the aim of ‘ending the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots and bringing them closer to the European Union’ doesn’t seem to be going to happen in the near future with the Green Line Regulation. Therefore, it is imperative to start using new tools urgently, namely the pending direct trade and financial aid regulations.”
Erel also criticised the fact that negotiations were going on in Brussels without any participation by the Turkish Cypriot community. “We find this extremely disturbing on behalf of our community” the letter said, “taking into consideration the desire of the Council to send a signal of encouragement to the Turkish Cypriot community”.
“We expect that steps will be taken to overcome this democratic deficit and chance be given to us to represent and express ourselves,” it added.
