Turkey has done enough to push for a settlement on the divided island of Cyprus, and no one should expect any more gestures from Ankara now for the sake of progress in its troubled bid to join the European Union, President Abdullah Gül has said.
The EU opened accession negotiations with Turkey in 2005 but progress has been slow since then.
The EU suspended talks on eight of the 35 chapters in 2006 due to Turkey’s refusal to open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus. Ankara insists it will not open its ports and airports unless the EU keeps its 2004 promise to allow trade with Turkish Cyprus. The EU made the promise as a reward for the Turkish Cypriots, who voted for a UN plan to reunite the island in 2004. The Greek Cypriots rejected the plan but joined the EU a few days after the vote as representative of the entire island.
News reports have recently said the EU is now asking Turkey to take a step to overcome the stalemate in its accession process, by opening a few Turkish ports or airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus as a good will gesture to the Greek Cypriots.
Gül, in an interview with BBC’s Turkish service, dismissed such a move. “I know how it works. Everybody says ‘Turkey should offer a gesture.’ Turkey does offer gestures but gestures would be unnecessary if you don’t see them reciprocated,” Gül said, emphasizing that Turkey made its biggest gesture to resolve the Cyprus dispute by supporting the UN plan for reunification in 2004. “The Turkish Cypriots made a big gesture by voting for the plan but they got nothing in return,” he said, referring to the continued isolation of the Turkish Cypriots. And in 2006, when he was the Turkish foreign minister, he called for “lifting all embargoes of the island” but even that was not accepted.
09 November 2010, Tuesday
TODAY’S ZAMAN İSTANBUL
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