BY TUFAN TURENC
HURRIYET- Four years both Greek Cypriots and Greeks have argued that it’s the Turks who have blocked solution of the Cyprus issue. What will they say now? When walls are collapsing all over the world, Greek Cypriots and Greeks accused Turks of dividing Cyprus into two with a wall. So they opposed this by saying ‘no’ to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s plan? How will they continue the ‘wall’ lie from now on? They’ve been saying for years, ‘The invading Turkish soldiers came and seized our property and gave it to Turks. I want my property. Since Turks have been using them for 30 years, Ankara should pay compensation.’ So how will they apply to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) now? How will the ECHR tell Greek Cypriots that they’re right and make Turkey pay compensation? How will Greek Cypriots and Greeks now say that the state established by Turks is illegal and that the embargo should continue? Now how will the West continue the embargo on the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)?
No country which respects modern world values, human rights and international law even a bit can answer such questions. In other words, nobody can defend the years-long oppression of Turkish Cypriots. The US should take steps to end this unfair situation as soon as possible. If it does so, the entire world would follow suit. However, I believe that neither the US, nor Europe nor other countries will do what’s necessary. Nobody should be optimistic. They will praise Turks for a short while but then they will favor the Greek Cypriots, and Turkey will have to foot the bill. I don’t doubt it because I’ve been seeing this since I first became a journalist.
Both Washington and the EU are deeply disappointed by the Greek Cypriots’ rejection of the UN plan, but better they should help the Turks. But they won’t. These are all tricks. We’ll see very shortly how their words will change. They will gild the Greek Cypriots’ conditions and bring them to the table again and force Turkish Cypriots to swallow this. At this point Ankara should stand firm. It should say to the US and the EU that there will be no retreats. Ankara should understand that there are to be no concessions from now on. The most interesting result of the referendums is that both Denktas’s and theGreek Cyriots’ wishes came true with the rejection of Annan’s plan. However, no one should doubt that there will be always plans.