Global News Journal
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Turkey’s EU bid meets another Cyprus roadblock
Negotiating Turkey’s accession to the European Union hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing. But it may be about to get tougher still.
Europeans are already divided over the prospect of inviting a largely Muslim nation into their club of 27 states. And while some are attracted by Turkey’s huge economic potential, that’s frequently shadowed by its much-criticised human rights record.
As a result, Ankara’s membership negotiations with Brussels have, perhaps predictably, been slow.
Now a presidential election in northern Cyprus, a sliver of land only twice the size of London, is threatening to wreck any chance of a serious revival in those talks for years.
If opinion polls prove correct, hardline right-wing candidate Dervis Eroglu will oust incumbent Mehmet Ali Talat in the vote this Sunday. Reunification talks between the province, recognised as a state only by Ankara, and the rest of Cyprus could grind to a halt under Eroglu’s leadership.
The conflict started shortly after Britain granted independence to the Mediterranean island in 1960, sparking fighting between its Greek and Turkish communities.
In 1974, a Greek-inspired coup prompted Turkey to invade the island and carve out its own province in the north. Decades of wearisome stop-and-go reunification talks have followed.
Cyprus reunification talks – drowned out by shouting?
After months of Cyprus reunification talks, what comes out of the negotiating room more often than anything else, is shouting.
Greek Cypriot President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, appear to have made little headway in the conundrum that has defied generations of international diplomats.
Western diplomats and analysts on the divided Mediterranean island are starting to wonder if the euphoria that surrounded the launch of the talks in September 2008, was justified.
“They went back to the drawing board, that’s the main problem,” said Mete Hatay, a researcher for the PRIO peace institute in Nicosia.
High hopes were pinned on the two men, who come from leftist parties and enjoyed a strong relationship as opposition leaders, to make more progress than their predecessors – Glafcos Clerides and Rauf Denktash, British-trained lawyers whose careers were identified with the Cyprus problem.
“Both of them have trouble grappling with the language and terms. They are not lawyers like Clerides and Denktash,” said a senior Western diplomat. “Christofias wants to lead by consensus but you can’t operate like that as president and Talat is in a tight corner.”
Christofias moves too slowly and Talat, anxious not to give up too much, stepped back from agreed positions, hoping to meet somewhere in the middle but frustrating his opponent, he said.
The time has come for all cypriots to unite in friendship, and put the past behind us forever
May want to add Armenia to your list so as to enlighten you. It’s easy to point to the obvious but Turkey has a reconciliation issues that exposes Europe with geopolitical concerns which make the Cyprus issue look as a tea party dispute.