MILLIYET- Columnist Sami Kohen comments on Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus President Rauf Denktas’s recent proposal suggesting a new administrative model for the future of the island. A summary of his column is as follows:
After five months of intensive negotiations over the future of Cyprus, the island’s two leaders, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas and Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides, have as yet been unable to make significant progress. There are signs that talks reached an impasse in the wake of the Greek Cypriot side’s cool reception of Denktas’s recent written proposal to Clerides.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is expecting to see significant progress before June, is now preparing to intercede in the talks with the hope of opening the way towards permanent peace on the island. Annan will hold separate meetings with Denktas and Clerides on the island next week.
Meanwhile, the Center for European Studies/Bogazici University and TUSIAD/Foreign Policy Forum over the weekend held an international conference entitled 'Cyprus's Accession to the European Union' where they discussed recently renewed efforts to find a solution to the problem. The participants learned about the details of Denktas’s new proposal at the conference. We can summarize its main points as follows:
* A ‘Partnership State of Cyprus’ should be established.
* The concept of partnership is not in contradiction with the idea of a single Cypriot state. Denktas believes that the island might join the EU as one state.
* The partnership will be made up of two equal partners.
* The Partnership State of Cyprus will have effective judicial, legislative and executive functions and authorities.
According to TRNC Presidential Undersecretary Ergun Olgun, who presented the details of the proposal at the conference, Denktas also remarked during the negotiations that both sides might also take as an example other alternative administrative structures such as the Belgian model. ‘What he stressed,’ said Olgun, ‘was that the partnership should be formed in an evolutionary process with the joint efforts of the both sides.’
The Greek Cypriots are currently opposed to this proposal, arguing that it would mean the establishment of two separate independent states on the island. What most encourages the Greek Cypriots are the European Union’s recent signals that they might be allowed to join the Union without first reaching a permanent solution on the island. The more the EU encourages them along those lines, the dimmer are the parties’ chances of reaching a solution.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION