BY MURAT YETKIN
RADIKAL- Turkey is very important to us, and we can’t let it break away from the Western world, said former US Congressman Jack Buechner earlier this week. Buechner yesterday met with a US congressional delegation after it returned to Washington from its historic visit to Cyprus.
‘The international community believes that the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots should be ended,’ he said, explaining to reporters why the group led by Congressmen Ed Whitfield had paid such a critical visit to Northern Cyprus despite Greek Cypriot opposition. ‘So we decided to take a concrete step to this end as part of our US-Turkish Working Group. Powerful Greek lobbies in the US strongly opposed our initiative. Thus, we sought the advice of the US State Department on the issue. Department officials encouraged us to visit the island by underlining that there’s nothing illegal about going into Northern Cyprus directly. As you see, the only opposition came from the Greeks.’
Let’s think about how the situation looked a decade ago. The Turkish and Greek Cypriots seemed to moving closer to an agreement with the help of a UN initiative. When a US congressional delegation wanted to visit Northern Cyprus directly at that time, the US State Department didn’t let them do it. Therefore, this week’s visit by the US delegation is an indicator of a real shift in Washington’s policy on Cyprus.
During his visit with Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Mehmet Ali Talat, Whitfield emphasized how the Greek Cypriots had turned back Turkish efforts to reunify the island by saying ‘no’ to the Annan plan.
The Greek Cypriots are now very busy responding to the US visit. They seem profoundly affected and shocked by both Whitfield and Turkish Friendship Caucus Co-Chairman Robert Wexler’s statement regretting that he couldn’t accompany the delegation.
This visit was jointly sponsored by US and Turkish nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). On the Turkish side, TEPAV, the think tank of the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodities Exchanges (TOBB), and on the US side, the German Marshall Fund (GMF), both provided funds. The GMF also opened its Ankara branch yesterday.
Prior to Prime Minister Erdogan’s visit to US President Bush and UN Secretary-General Annan in Washington next week, Turkish-US relations have seemed to gain a fresh impetus. Washington supports Turkey’s EU membership bid, although anti-Turkish circles in the EU have recently started to raise their voice.
UN Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast’s contacts on Cyprus and in Ankara will also boost Ankara’s peace efforts based on the Annan plan. A series of meetings will be held in Ankara tomorrow with the participation of Talat. Therefore, Turkey is preparing well for a possible resumption of Cyprus negotiations. But when will the US initiative have repercussions in Europe? It’s hard to tell…