By Jean Christou
DEFENCE Minister Socrates Hasikos yesterday dismissed new Turkish threats to annex the north of the island as scare-mongering tactics aimed at blocking the island’s accession to the EU.
Speaking before his departure on an official trip to Moscow, Hasikos said that while such statements should not go unobserved, neither should they be unduly emphasised.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said on Sunday that Turkey would not give up its ” just cause”in Cyprus while Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said Cyprus was crucial to Turkey’s national security and abandoning the Turkish Cypriot north of the divided island was tantamount to giving up Turkish territory.
Ecevit said earlier this month that Turkey could annex the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) if the EU admitted Cyprus before a settlement was reached.
“There’s no difference between sacrificing the TRNC and sacrificing a piece of Turkey’s soil,” Ecevit said in an interview broadcast live on TRT television on Sunday. “The TRNC is not just vital to the security of Cyprus’ Turks but for
Turkey’s security as well.”
Ecevit also warned that EU policy on Cyprus could plunge the island into ethnic violence.
“If a solution (with) the Greek Cypriots’ or the EU’s demands is brought onto the agenda, to me it’s inescapable the Turks there would face a new genocide,” Reuters quoted Ecevit as saying.
Hasikos said the time remaining until the signing of the accession treaty between
the EU and Cyprus was “highly crucial” and said all issues relating to Cyprus’
bid to join the EU should be faced calmly and seriously.
“We should refrain from becoming a vehicle for such (Turkish) statements and thus serving the aims of the Turkish side, which wants to send the EU the message that Cyprus’ accession should be blocked because of the political issue,” he said.
Cyprus’ chief EU negotiator, former president George Vassiliou, also commented yesterday on the Turkish threats.
He said Ecevit’s statements showed weakness and that “someone who is self- confident and feels he is on the right track does not use such language in addressing the EU and its policies.”
Vassiliou left yesterday for Athens, where he is due to have talks with Greece’s
Alternate Foreign Minister Anastasios Yiannitsis on issues relating to Cyprus’
bid to join the EU.
Ecevit also said he was not “overly hopeful” the face-to-face talks between Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash and President Glafcos Clerides on December 4 – their their first meeting in four years – would yield a settlement.
“It’s beneficial to be optimistic,” he said. “I hope to see the sides come closer, but I’m not overly hopeful.”
Denktash, who arrived in Ankara on Sunday, said he would meet President Clerides in the presence of a senior UN envoy. “I want to meet Clerides to tell him he’s on the wrong path,” Denktash told reporters. “I want to find out what (Clerides) wants to do, and based on that, I will give a message to my people and a message to Turkey,” he said.
