BY DERYA SAZAK
MILLIYET- Turkey has an intensive agenda mostly consisting of the Iraq and Cyprus issues and the EU in foreign politics. Following last weekend’s elections in Iraq, Ankara’s concerns due to Kirkuk’s situation will be discussed during the National Security Council’s (NSC) meeting on Feb. 25. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Turkey as part of his Middle East tour this weekend. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s message to the US concerning the remarks made by Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq and elections’ threat on Iraq’s territorial integrity are creating a tension between Ankara and Washington. Meanwhile, initialing Ankara Agreement with 10 new members, which would mean recognizing the Cyprus Republic de facto, will force the government. The EU Commission stated its request that the agreement will be initialed by the end of this month. For the government, this situation won’t mean recognizing the Greek Cypriot administration. Ankara was in favor of initialing the agreement as part of a protocol to guarantee the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ (TRNC) rights before EU membership talks on Oct. 3. It’s trying to do this earlier than planned. Surprisingly, the expectation of solving the problem of signature until the end of this month was put forth.
General elections will be held on Feb. 20 and the new political power will be determined and there will be presidential elections on April 17 in the TRNC. TRNC President Rauf Denktas stated that he wouldn’t be a candidate for presidency. He will end his career as an active politician. TRNC Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat should win the elections on Feb. 20 on the path to presidency. Speaking to Milliyet daily yesterday, Talat defended a solution and unification in Cyprus. He thinks solving the Cyprus issue until the membership talks in October would be in favor of Turkey. Actually it would be difficult to start EU membership talks without a solution to the Cyprus issue. Ankara is about to find itself in opposition to the US due to the northern Iraq and Kirkuk. It might also go against the EU due to the Cyprus issue. A difficult agenda of foreign policy is awaiting the government.