Brussels, 04/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - At the beginning of the week, Greek and Turkish Cypriots made separate calls for a mutual restoration of confidence and accused each other of not playing the game. Ergün Olgun, Under Secretary for the Presidency of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC) made a speech on Monday night at the European Parliament, at the invitation of MEP Andrew Duff. Ioannis Kasoulides, Republic of Cyprus Minister for Foreign Affairs was invited to the European Policy Centre on Tuesday. Cyprus has been divided into the Greek South and the Turkish North since 1974 and is part of the small squad at the head of candidate countries for EU accession, having closed 27 of 30 chapters.
Ergün Olgun criticised the EU and more particular, a "Commissioner" for "having taken sides". He claimed that the EU considered that Greek Cypriots were representatives for the whole island…and as if they were its sole spokespersons. According to Mr Olgun, the absence f EU pressure meant that the Greek Cypriots were perhaps just negotiating to make it look like they were doing all they could to reach an agreement, while the Turks were being made to look "intransigent" or for seeking to obtain only intermediary agreements (on territory or property), so that they could joint the EU without any problems. The Under Secretary of State to the Turkish leader, Rauf Denktash, has for a long time described the position of Turkish Cypriots, pointing out that the TRNC wanted a "State Partnership" with a single international personality set up by the two "co-founders" with power sharing between the different communities and the EU. He has also pointed out that the solution would be by way of the legitimising of the "TRNC" (which is not currently recognised by the international community). The two communities wish to join the EU "on the condition that a balance is maintained" in relations between Turkey and Greece.. Cyprus can not be a member of an international organisation if neither of the two communities belong to it, he declared, before describing how Turkish Cypriots have shown a certain amount of flexibility on EU accession but always with the condition of maintaining the said "balance".
Asked about this issue on Tuesday, Ioannis Kasoulides replied that if it was effectively the case, namely, the Belgian constitutional model, with a single State Sovereign, the agreement could be signed tomorrow. Mr Kasoulides doubted, however, that the situation had been solved. He explained that in order to sort out the problem, " a desire from both sides for dissipating mistrust" was needed, a desire that was lacking on the part of Turkish Cypriots, he added. The Cypriot Foreign Affairs Minister wanted proof that the Republic of Cyprus would recognise Turkish security concerns and the principle of political equality (but stressed that the numerical superiority of Greek Cypriots needed to be respected). He claimed that Turkish Cypriots would not to take into consideration the worries of Greek Cypriots about partition of the island and the necessity of a single sovereign State based on a Constitution and not on an international treaty. Whilst hoping that the problem could be resolved with the access of Cyprus to the EU, Mr Kasoulides explained that if this didn't happen, the beneficial effects of enlargement for everybody and the progress of Turkey's accession would allow the EU to solve the problem. Before alluding to the "Turkish problem" in a questions and answers session, Mr Kasoulides centred his speech on the Cypriot position on the debate about the Future of Europe. We'll be returning to this subject tomorrow.