EPP urges Turkey to withdraw forces from Cyprus

[Gavur]

The New Anatolian / Lefkosa



The European People's Party (EPP) approved a controversial decision over the weekend urging Turkey to withdraw its forces from Cyprus as a part of efforts to ease tension and pave the way for a possible solution on Cyprus.

In its decision the EPP also calls on the United Nations to set a timetable for the withdrawal of Turkish forces.

It sparked criticism from Turkish Cypriots and Turkish circles who say that Annan plan, which foresees the withdrawal of Turkish forces from the island, was rejected by the Greek Cypriots, not the Turkish Cypriots.

The issue was brought to EPP's discussion floor by Greek Cypriot Democratic Mobilization Party (DISI) leader Nikos Anastasiadis. Greek Cypriot Politis daily maintained that the decision is important as 11 leaders from European Union member states have also signed it.

The EPP is the largest political grouping in the European Parliament which constitutes an umbrella group for Christian Democrats deputies and other right-wing EU parties.

Added to the request that Turkey withdraw its forces from the disputed island, the decision also confirms the unity and independence of the "Republic of Cyprus."

Expressing respect for the democratic will of Greek Cypriots, the EPP voices its disappointment over the situation on the divided island.

While the EPP calls on United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to restart a new peace initiative that might be acceptable to both the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, it also calls on the EU to make active an contribution to international efforts to finding a solution to the problem.

"Turkey should continue with its positive efforts to find a solution to the Cyprus issue under the UN's auspices and in line with EU principles," the decision read, underlining the need for Turkey to approve the Ankara protocol which extends the Customs Union to the 10 new members of the EU, including the Greek Cypriot administration.

Stressing that Turkey will be involved in EU membership talks with all members of the 25 nation-bloc, the EPP also urges Turkey to recognize the Greek Cypriot administration, an EU member.

Concerning the isolation of Northern Cyprus, the EPP expresses support for all efforts towards economic and commercial assistance to be given to the Turkish Cypriots.

[Gavur]

Turkey's threats hit a dead end in Europe - Greek foreign minister

Apr 4, 2006, 16:40 GMT





Athens - Turkey's practices of tension and violent threats against Greece and Cyprus are a dead-end in the European environment, Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyianni said Tuesday.

'Turkey's obsession to practices of tension and questioning, as well as violent threats, are a dead-end in the European environment,' Bakoyianni said in a speech before parliament.

'Ankara needs to understand that keeping a constructive stance is to its benefit,' she added.

Since taking up her post in February, Bakoyianni has said that Turkey's refusal to open its ports and airports to European Union member Cyprus does not help its efforts to join the EU.

Turkey began membership talks with the EU last year but until now it has refused to open its ports to Greek Cypriot ships and planes unless the EU lifts trade restrictions against a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state located in the northern third of the island.

Bakoyianni said that by signing the Ankara agreement in July 2005, which was necessary to open accession negotiations, Turkey made commitments to the EU and all its member states, including the republic of Cyprus.

Cyprus has been split into a Greek Cypriot south and a Turkish Cypriot north since Turkish troops invaded the island in 1974 in response to a brief coup organized by Greece.

The EU had promised to ease trade restrictions on the breakaway Turkish Cypriot part of the island if it voted for a 2004 UN peace plan which would have seen them join the bloc alongside the southern part of the island.

A Turkish Cypriot referendum approved of the plan but the Greek Cypriots rejected it and joined the bloc on their own.

'The rejection of the Annan Plan by such as overwhelming majority cannot be ignored,' said Bakoyianni.

Under the Ankara protocol, Turkey must remove all obstacles to the free movment of goods between it and all EU member states.

Greek Cypriots have warned Turkey that it could face a veto in its EU membership talks if it continued to block Cypriot vessels.

Aside from the divided island of Cyprus, Greece and Turkey are also at odds over territorial rights in the Aegean.

The two countries have nearly gone to war three times in the past three decades and Greece has repeatedly charged Turkey or violating its airspace with military aircraft.


© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

[Gavur]

Turkey warned hardline tactics may derail EU talks

Nicholas Watt in Brussels and David Gow in Istanbul
Thursday April 6, 2006
The Guardian


Turkey has been given a blunt warning by Brussels that it is jeopardising its 40-year dream of joining the European Union by failing to negotiate in good faith.
Ankara's supporters are growing exasperated with Turkey's hardline tactics, which are strengthening the hands of its opponents in the EU.

Olli Rehn, Europe's enlargement commissioner, highlighted the frustration last week when he warned of a "train crash" in the EU's relations with Turkey. One EU ambassador said: "The talks really are not going well." Another senior Brussels official said: "The membership negotiations won't take a decade, they will take decades and even then Turkey may not make it."




The warnings were prompted by Turkey's refusal to abide by a commitment last year to open its ports and airports to planes and shipping from Greek Cyprus. Cyprus gave its go-ahead to EU membership talks only after Turkey signed the "Ankara protocol", which allows all 25 EU countries - including the divided Mediterranean island - to trade with Turkey. Ankara is now arguing that the EU should also end its trade embargo with the Turkish north of the island.
Turkey's hardline stance is destabilising lengthy membership talks. Mr Rehn made clear last week Turkey could be in trouble unless it changes its ways by the time the commission publishes its annual progress report in the autumn. "We may face a period of political tension in EU-Turkey relations," he told Reuters. "The commission is working to avoid a train crash at the end of the year."

The European Commission fears the membership talks could unravel unless Turkey abides by its commitments.

Tassos Papadopoulos, the Cypriot president, has demanded that Turkey open up its ports. "If Turkey does not comply, there will be a crisis," he told Reuters on Tuesday. "But it will be a crisis of its own making, not of Europe's making."

Turkey's behaviour is being used by EU countries which are wary of Ankara to slow down talks. France is calling for Turkey to guarantee the Kurdish language can be taught in schools.

[Gavur]

Greek fighter planes engage Turkish air force in mid-air "dog fight"

Thursday, May 11 2006 @ 10:08 AM Eastern Daylight Time
During the Turkish armed forces' "Sea Lion 2006" search and rescue operation exercises being carried out in international waters of the Aegean Sea, Greek war planes provoked and harassed Turkish helicopters and airplanes taking part in the maneuvers yesterday.

The "Sea Lion 2006" exercises are taking place between Turkey's Karaburun peninsula on the Aegean, and the Greek islands of Lesbos and Iskiri, and are being headed up by the Commander of the South Sea Front, Admiral Alev Gumusoglu. The Turkish forces involved in the exercises include boats, planes and helicopters. "Mirage" war planes from the Greek Air Force harassed both planes and helicopters involved in the "Sea Lion 2006" exercises, prompting a response from the Izmir Turkish Air Force base, which sent 4 F-16 fighters of its own to the area. The ensuing mid-air dog-fights between Greek and Turkish jets lasted through the second stage of the "Sea Lion 2006" exercises.

[Gavur]

Cyprus Election Spells Trouble for Turkish EU Entry

Voters in Cyprus have backed the ruling coalition in a parliamentary election, endorsing leaders who oppose efforts to re-unite Greek Cypriots with the island's Turkish north.

President Tassos Papadopoulos' DIKO party and its communist allies enjoyed overwhelming support at the polls. The result is the latest setback to the United Nations plan to re-unify the island, and could even undermine Turkish efforts to join the European Union.



Half a million Greek Cypriots took to the polls to elect 56 representatives. It was their first chance to pick MPs since a referendum on reunification was rejected in 2004. It was also the first time in decades that some 270 of the ethnic Turks living in the Greek-held part of Cyprus were allowed to vote and contest the election.





Results show the governing coalition, which ran on an anti-reunification platform, gained support at the polls. President Tassos Papadopoulos' DIKO party won 18 percent of the vote -- up 3 percent on its last showing -- while his allies from the communist AKEL party won 31 percent. The pro-reunification opposition party, the DISY, lost ground to come a close second with 30 percent of the vote.



UN proposal doomed?



Greek and Turkish Cypriots have lived divided since Turkey invaded Cyprus's north in 1974 in response to a brief Greek-inspired coup. Decades of international efforts to re-unite the island have failed.



Political analysts say the latest vote shows international mediators will have a hard time trying to re-impose the UN settlement proposals, which had called for large degrees of power-sharing between the two sides.



They also say the results have set the stage for a diplomatic stand-off between Cyprus and Turkey in Brussels later this year.



Threatening to veto Turkey




Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Unlike Greek Cypriots, Turkish cypriots have backed unification of the island
Cyprus, represented in the EU only by its internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government, does not have any diplomatic ties with Ankara, which is keen to join the European bloc.



Papadopoulos has warned that Cyprus could veto Turkey's bid to join the EU if Ankara doesn't comply with European commitments to open its ports and airports to Cypriot traffic by the end of this year.



But Turkey insists that Cypriot access to its harbors will remain restricted until the Greek Cypriot government ends the political isolation of the island's Turkish north.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2028455,00.html

DW staff (win)

[Gavur]

Greek and Turkish jets collide

Tue May 23, 2006 01:07 PM BST




By Karolos Grohmann
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek and Turkish fighter planes collided in mid-air on Tuesday while shadowing each other in the southern Aegean, where the two NATO allies have long disputed control over airspace.

The exact circumstances of the crash, in an area where aircraft of the two NATO members frequently harass each other in close manoeuvres, were not immediately clear.

The Turkish military said the crash was caused by a Greek fighter interfering in Turkish manoeuvres in international airspace. Greece, however, said the collision occurred during "interception manoeuvres" above the Greek island of Karpathos.

Karpathos mayor Michalis Ioannidis told Greek television islanders had heard an explosion but seen nothing.

Greek defence officials said the Turkish pilot had been picked up by a foreign commercial vessel in the area.

"He refuses to board the Greek military rescue helicopter that has arrived there," one official said.

There was no immediate word of the Greek flyer.

A Greek frigate was ordered to sail towards Karpathos, close to Rhodes and the Turkish coast, to take part in the search and rescue operation. Turkish vessels were also scrambled.

Turkish Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul said the Turkish and Greek military commanders had immediately contacted each other over the incident, the apparent fruit of confidence-building measures agreed last year to stop such incidents escalating.

The countries came close to war as recently as 1996 over an Aegean outcrop and before that over the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Ties have warmed in the last five years, with Greece backing Turkey's drive to join the European Union, but tensions remain over the territorial issues.

AIR SPACE

Greece says it daily scrambles fighters to intercept Turkish aircraft invading the airspace of its islands. Turkey denies the flights are a violation of Greek territory, saying it only flies in international airspace.

These manoeuvres, often called "mock dogfights", can often involve very close approaches from both sides and draw formal protests from Ankara and Athens.

The officials said the Greek plane was an F-16 fighter but could not determine the type of the Turkish plane.

Despite overall improvements in relations, a solution of territorial and air sovereignty disputes eludes both countries.

Greece claims a 10-mile zone around its coast, but Turkey recognises only a six-mile zone. Turkey says it has the right to train in international airspace.

In January 1996, Greece and Turkey were involved in a tense stand-off over ownership of an outcrop. The two countries stepped back from war after the United States, fearing conflict within the NATO alliance, mediated a settlement.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

[Gavur]

Hague option for Aegean

Ex-president says court should resolve Greek-Turkish dispute over air space
Greece and Turkey should take their dispute over air space to the International Court of Justice at The Hague because diplomacy between the two countries has failed, former Greek president Costis Stephanopoulos wrote in an article for Sunday’s Kathimerini.

“Until now, there have been 33 meetings, if I am not mistaken, between the general secretaries of the two foreign ministries without any result,” said Stephanopoulos. “Neither of the two countries will back down because they have convinced their people of the correctness of their stance.”

Stephanopoulos, who was replaced by Karolos Papoulias last March, expressed his opinion after a collision between Greek and Turkish jets over the Aegean last Tuesday. The Greek pilot is still missing, and presumed dead, but the Turkish pilot ejected safely.

The former president said that Turkey had not changed its stance toward Greece, despite Athens being an enthusiastic supporter of Ankara’s bid to join the European Union. Stephanopoulos added that the accession process had not had any positive impact so far on Turkey’s behavior.

“If my assessment is correct, it leads to only one conclusion. I mean recourse to the International Court of Justice at The Hague.”

Greece says its national air space extends 10 miles but Turkey argues that it should only reach 6 miles, which is the same distance as Greece’s territorial waters.

Athens has previously suggested taking the matter to the United Nations court. Stephanopoulos said Greece should enlist the support of EU and non-European countries to pressure Ankara.

“If we do not seek a solution through the International Court, all the outstanding issues will remain outstanding with the expected repercussions and the danger of a hostile incident,” Stephanopoulos concluded.

Meanwhile, a poll for Sunday’s Ethnos newspaper indicated that 64 percent of Greeks want the government to “block” Ankara’s EU accession process rather than pursue closer relations with Turkey.

[Gavur]

USA will not recognise TRNC: Fried


The US favoured the Greek and Turkish Cypriots starting talks with United Nations on technical matters, Fried said.


NTV-MSNBC
15:41 TSİ 09 Haziran 2006 CumaWASHINGTON - A senior US official on Friday ruled out Washington formally recognising the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Speaking at a conference on Cyprus organised by Greek Cypriots, Daniel Fried, the US State Department’s Deputy Secretary responsible for Europe and Eurasia relations, said there would be no change in Washington’s position regarding official recognition of the TRNC.


Fried called on Ankara to open up its ports to vessels under the Greek Cypriot flag in order to achieve its goal of European Union membership goal. The US official added that if an agreement was to be reached on the island, that the Turkish and Greek Cypriots, Turks and Greeks would have to make tough choices in order to gain the support of the majority of the two communities. Fried vowed that the US would continue to support efforts to resolve the Cyprus question.

“Our policies do not entail or hint at a step by step recognition of another political existence on the island. Cyprus is one country. We have one embassy, one ambassador and it would stay so. “The Cyprus Republic and the Turkish Cypriots hold the same aim; to have a joint identity and future as Cypriots in one country. We shall not let this opportunity be missed,” he said.