BY FIKRET BILA
MILLIYET- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan invited the parties to New York for Cyprus negotiations. Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas received the letter of invitation in Ankara. Annan made no change in the conditions he has put forth previously. Actually he didn’t need to do it because Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already stated that we had accepted these conditions. Denktas isn’t pleased with this method used by Erdogan. He thinks that sitting at the table with Annan’s preconditions means losing the negotiations. Denktas talked about this issue with Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul during the summit held in Ankara two days ago. In sum, he said, ‘If we sit at the table by accepting Annan’s conditions beforehand, there would be no possibility of negotiation. Annan says that he would fill the gaps and doesn’t accept an important proposal of change in the plan. If we accept his conditions and sit at the table, we would be failing and give Cyprus as a gift to Greek Cypriots.’
In response, Erdogan and Gul’s stance can be summed as follows: ‘We should show that we aren’t the uncompromising side. We should also consider the things that would happen if we don’t sit at the table. Greek Cypriot administration will become an EU member on May 1. We will have to recognize the Greek Cypriot administration. They will want to open embassy and the Customs Union Agreement will enter into effect for them as well. We will be declared to be the uncompromising side and the Turkish-EU relations will be harmed. For this reason, we shouldn’t be the escaping side.’
Denktas’s warnings about Annan’s plan are as follows: ‘Annan doesn’t permit essential changes in the plan. The plan removes the TRNC with its current situation and doesn’t provide political equality.’ These views of Denktas didn’t change last night either. Denktas will go to New York but before going there he will state his points of rejections.