ANNAN’S PROVISIONS AND SUCCESS
BY TARHAN ERDEM (RADIKAL)
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf
Denktas, TRNC Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat and Foreign
Minister Serdar Denktas yesterday arrived in Ankara to hold a
summit with Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul. A written statement issued after the one-and-an-half-hour
meeting said that current situation of the Cyprus issue was
discussed. Stressing that Turkish and TRNC top officials
agreed to support United Nations Secretary-General Kofi
Annan’s efforts to find a settlement to the issue, the
statement underlined that both sides vowed to act together in
the future as well. Speaking to reporters, Denktas said that
during their meeting, Erdogan briefed leaders about his recent
visit to the US. The TRNC president added that there was no
disagreement between Turkish and TRNC leaders plus they were
waiting for Annan to begin his initiatives on the matter. /All
Papers/
Appearing on television yesterday, Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan said that the Cyprus issue was a national case,
adding that Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
(TRNC) would never avoid negotiating with Greek Cyprus. “We
are ready to begin negotiations,” he said. “We will continue
to show our good will to reach a resolution on the island.”
Touching on the Cyprus summit, the premier said that a common
stance was determined between Turkey and the TRNC on the
Cyprus issue, adding that they would continue to act together
to reach a resolution on the island. “There is no meaning to
exploit the Cyprus issue,” added Erdogan. He stated that
former governments failed to help a resolution for 40 years,
adding that it should be accepted that there were two nations
on the island. “Turkey and Greece are accepted as guarantor
states on the island,” added Erdogan. /Cumhuriyet/
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said yesterday that Turkey
and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) had done their
best to resume Cyprus talks to find a solution to the issue.
Before traveling to Brussels to hold a series of contacts
there, Gul spoke to reporters at Esenboga Airport. Stressing
that Cyprus summit in Ankara was very fruitful, Gul said that
he hoped talks to resume soon with an initiative of UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He added that a just and
permanent solution to the issue could be found within the
framework of Annan’s Cyprus plan and considering realities of
the island. /Turkiye/
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said yesterday
that there was not much time for a resolution on the island
and that the issue should be solved by May, when Greek Cyprus
is scheduled to join the European Union. “If we want a
resolution by May, we need to hurry,” said Annan, adding that
he hoped to announce the negotiation date as soon as possible.
“I hope the negotiation date on the island will be determined
in a few days.” Annan is expected to send invitations to both
sides to begin negotiations on Feb. 10 in New York. /Turkiye/
Greek foreign Minister George Papandreou said yesterday
that Athens wanted efforts to reach a resolution on the island
to begin as soon as possible. Speaking after his meeting with
Greek Premier Costas Simitis, Papandreou said that the meeting
was focused on the Cyprus issue. In related news, Greek Cyprus
leader Tassos Papadopoulos said that United Nations Secretary-General
Kofi Annan didn’t make up his mind to invite both sides to
begin negotiations, adding that he was still thinking on the
issue. /Turkiye/
Speaking at the European Parliament Conference of
Presidents in Budapest, Hungarian yesterday, Parliament
Speaker Bulent Arinc remarked that although most of its people
were Muslim, Turkey was a secular and modern European country.
Stressing that Turkey had implemented radical reforms on the
road of European Union membership, Arinc stated that Turkey
would play an important role between the West and Islamic
World when it becomes a EU member. Following the meeting,
Arinc met with European Parliament President Pat Cox where Cox
expressed his pleasure of Turkey’s efforts to fulfill EU
criteria. /Turkiye/
Irene Han, secretary-general of the amnesty international
is expected to visit Turkey this weekend. Han, accompanied by
a delegation, is set to meet with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, representatives of non-governmental
organizations and government officials to discuss human rights.
/Cumhuriyet/
Relief workers rescued some 30 survivors and pulled out of
the bodies of 28 people from the rubble of apartment building
in Turkey’s central province of Konya that suddenly collapsed
on Monday morning. Officials said 144 people were registered
to have been living in 37 apartments of the building. The
floors of the 11-storey building had mostly collapsed on top
of each other. Hopes of finding more survivors began to fade
yesterday and some 50-60 people are still expected to be under
the debris. Meanwhile, police detained two of the contactors
of the building. Investigation is underway whether the
contractors ignored the building codes. /All Papers/
The State Institute of Statistics (DIE) yesterday released
month-on-month inflation figures for January. Inflation last
month was 0.7% on the consumer price index (CPI) and 2.6% on
the wholesale price index (WPI), pushing year-to year WPI to
10.8% and CPI to 16.2%. /All papers/
Columnist Yilmaz Oztuna comments on the results of Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to the US. A summary of
his column is as follows:
“If Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit had been
unsuccessful, some part of the media and the opposition would
have been pleased. However, the benefit of these kinds of
foreign contacts belongs to the nation. In case of an
undesirable development, would we become happy? Erdogan’s
visit to US President George W. Bush is important every time
and every way. The US’ situation as the single super power and
our neighbor increases this importance.
Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul will hold
intensive contacts particularly with Europe during following
months. If they are mistaken, we’ll criticize them. However,
we’ll also emphasize and encourage their success. A
respectable prime minister would increase the opposition’s
esteem in politics and media as well.
Supporters of the status quo didn’t like Erdogan’s
performance in his visits to the US. Those who turned the
Cyprus problem into the web of problems attempted at accusing
Erdogan of having made concessions on the island. However,
supporters of the status quo will get used to the idea of
reform slowly.”
Columnist Tarhan Erdem comments on the Cyprus issue. A
summary of his column is as follows:
“UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan offered four provisions to
start the negotiations on Cyprus: The first is that both
parties should display a good will. Secondly, they should
accept the calendar for negotiations. Thirdly, parties should
accept that Annan would fill in the blanks on issues where no
agreement is reached at the end of the negotiations. Fourthly,
parties should go for a referendum on accepting or rejecting
the plan formed by this process.
Some find the government’s political will and statements on
negotiations and agreements as wrong and some claim that
Turkey’s recent movement endangers its future. This move by
Turkey turned the parties towards the negotiation table. Now
it’s difficult for the parties to say ‘I don’t accept Annan’s
provisions and wont negotiate.’ Some also claim that Annan’s
provisions would make it difficult to negotiate. I think that
the provisions would make the solution easier for both sides.
The reason is that the provisions by Annan facilitate
agreement instead of disagreement. Annan’s provisions make
negotiations more fruitful and encourage compromise.
If the provisions are accepted and parties sit on the
negotiation table, they will know how much time they will have:
The negotiations should begin in mid February and last until
the end of March; parties will have 45 days to reach a
solution. At the end of these 45 days, issues on which
agreement is reached will be added to the plan and issues on
which no agreement is reached will be filled by Annan. Parties
could guess what Annan will add to fill in the blanks but they
won’t prefer estimation and would strive for a negotiation to
prevent any gaps in the plan. Thus, the issue will become
definite by their will. Parties won’t risk further demands and
will reach an agreement. Annan’s provisions say that parties
should either agree within a certain period or accept what
Annan adds to the plan. Thus, we can expect that parties would
agree on more issues in 45 days than they did within 45 years.
Today, what could be a success in Cyprus? I think success
would be a referendum resulting in a positive way after
Annan’s recent initiative.“
