TURKISH Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said yesterday that if changes could be made to the Annan plan, Ankara would have no objection to it being the basis of a Cyprus settlement.
Gul’s comments were made to Turkish channel NTV on his return from the World Economic Forum meetings in Jordan, where he met briefly with UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan.
“The important thing is not whether this is the Annan plan or any other plan. You can call it whatever you wish,” he said. “The important thing is to reach an agreement on a satisfactory plan. It is impossible to leave the United Nations totally out of the picture. As a matter of fact, we appreciate the UN’s activities and efforts. The plan that emerged, however, was unsatisfactory. We clearly explained our views at the time. If acceptable amendments are made to this plan, then why not?”
Gul’s comments contradict those of Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash who has repeatedly claimed the Annan plan “dead and buried” since he refused in March to put it before the Turkish Cypriot people in a referendum.
The international community has recently begun pushing for a resumption of the stalled talks with a view to reaching a solution before Cyprus joins the EU in May next year. Speculation is growing of a move in September with a view to concluding negotiations by March 2004.
A flurry of US and EU diplomatic activity on the island in recent weeks could not budge the Turkish Cypriot leader, leaving international mediators with no option but to turn their attention to Ankara in the hope that its own EU aspirations could lead to a breakthrough.
Turkey has long tried to distance the Cyprus issue from its own EU accession. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan repeated Ankara’s view at the weekend when he said he was ready to work like a “peace envoy” for a solution.
Erdogan again emphasised that Turkey’s EU bid was not related to the dispute in Cyprus. He said this would be “a double standard at the hands of the EU and Greece”, one of the parties to the dispute. Greece too should have been asked to solve the Cyprus problem before its accession, he added.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Gunter Verheugen, during his visit to the island last week made it clear that solving the Cyprus issue would assist Turkey’s path to the EU.
In an interview published in the Turkish Cypriot newspaper Kibris at the weekend, Verheugen again warned Ankara: “I presume that our Turkish colleagues are aware that the situation on the island will serve as an obstacle for them in the event that it does not change.”
In a message to Turkish Cypriots, Verheugen said they should not believe that there will be a better proposal than the Annan plan. “This is the best proposal made to them until now,’” he said. “There will not be a better one.”
Halkin Sesi quoted Huseyin Angolemli, the leader of the Turkish Cypriot Communal Liberation party as saying Denktash “has been put aside like Arafat”. This would be permanent after the elections in the north in December he said.
Angolemli said that waiting until May 2004 to reach a settlement would be wrong because the game would change once Greek Cypriots accede to the EU. “Then the Turkish Cypriots would be worse off than they would be with the Annan plan,” he said.
Speaking on his return from the EU summit, President Tassos Papadopoulos said on Sunday he believed negotiations on the basis the Annan plan could be concluded by March next year.
Papadopoulos reiterated his readiness to begin talks as soon as the UN Secretary-general invited the two sides to resume negotiations.
However he said Annan had pointed out that any attempt to resume peace talks would be meaningless and condemned to failure unless there was a change in the positions of the Turkish side.
”Our reservations were outlined orally and in writing and they were considered to be within the parameters of the Annan plan and we want negotiations to bring about those changes that would render the plan viable and functional,” Papadopoulos said. ”I repeat that we are ready to conclude discussions on the legal framework of the plan and negotiate the rest of the issues any time the Secretary-general invites us to talks.”
