If Yilmaz Were In Denktas's Place

CUMHURIYET- Columnist Orhan Birgit comments on statements by Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas. A summary of his column is as follows:
Mesut Yilmaz is not a common citizen, he has been in politics since 1982 and he is among the founders of the Motherland Party (ANAP) together with Turgut Ozal. He is ANAP's Rize deputy. He was tourism minister, state minister and foreign minister. Then he became the prime minister and today he is deputy prime minister. He has knowledge on all the documents of the government. He has a say and a vote in the determination of national strategy at the National Security Council (MGK). When he recently called for TRNC President Denktas to be 'more compromising' in the meetings between Denktas and Greek Cypriot administration leader Glafcos Clerides, he must have looked before he leapt. Deputy Prime Minister Yilmaz made this pronoucement in the leadup to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's visit, which is expected to be paid to the island this week in order to evaluate the state of the Cyprus issue. In other words, the secretary-general and of course EU officials can base their arguments that Denktas is 'not compromising enough' on this ill-timed declaration by Yilmaz. Denktas, who learned about Yilmaz's statement while he was in Ankara as President Ahmet Necdet Sezer's guest, accused Yilmaz of having not read the package of proposals dated April 29 which he had sent to Clerides. Wasn't his sarcastic manner just what was called for? In his reply to Yilmaz, Denktas felt obliged to add that the package was prepared in cooperation with the Turkish government. The proposals dated April 29, which were sent by Denktas to Clerides, of course were approved by the MGK. While Yilmaz was saying that he was expecting Denktas to adopt a more compromising manner concerning these proposals, Denktas, unable to hide his bewilderment, found it necessary to explain the island's strategic importance for Turkey once more on news channel CNN Turk yesterday. Then he tried to remind the Turkish public and Yilmaz of the London-Zurich agreement which was signed in 1960.
In summary, Denktas said the following: - The 1960 Constitution clearly set forth the Turkish side as a founding member of the joint government. But the incidents of July 15, 1974 destroyed this partnership, and a total of 103 villages were demolished in order to put the island under the sovereignty of Greek Cypriots. - The existence of two nations and the necessity for two separate zones were put into the UN documents after July 20, 1974. In the same documents, the distribution of property was accepted. We want Turkey to continue to be a guarantor state on the island. - We have not considered withdrawing from the meetings. We consider the EU as the union of the countries constituting the center of civilization, and of course we want to be included in this phenomenon. However, we don't want to be reduced to a state of minority and would like in fact to become a nation. We have been excluded from the budget for 39 years. We want the example of Belgium to be practiced in Cyprus. What would happen if Yilmaz were in Denktas' place? Our current government is getting odder and odder. Of course it is unthinkable that a coalition government can be in full agreement on all matters. However, what can we say when faced with the comedy of contradictions which is on display concerning Cyprus?

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION