MILLIYET- Columnist Sami Kohen writes on United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s recent attempts aimed at reaching a permanent settlement on Cyprus. A summary of his column is as follows:
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas and Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides are scheduled to meet with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today in Paris. It would be unrealistic to expect the two leaders to reach a permanent solution after this meeting. The UN officials are in fact well aware that it would not be that easy to solve this decades-old problem.
Why did Annan call for such a meeting while at the same time regular talks between the two leaders are still continuing? I wonder if he is planning to present them ‘a magical formula’ which would accelerate the slow pace of the peace talks which disappointed all the parties involved in the issue. Both leaders have already denied this argument stating that Annan was not planning to present them any plan or any ‘non-paper’ proposal. However, Annan does have his own views on the issue, which might be considered as ‘a series of ideas.’ He is apparently planning to share these ideas with the both parties. I bet his ideas will be very similar to the views of British Special Representative to Cyprus David Hannay and US Special Representative to Cyprus Thomas Weston.
We wish that Annan could be successful in his attempts aimed at peace and stability. However, the picture doesn’t seem very promising. Since both parties don’t make any concessions from their main principles, they can’t reach a permanent settlement. The Turkish side advocates for a solution based on the idea of a partnership. According to the Turkish Cypriots, there will be two separate and equal states which will come together under the roof of a partnership state. However, the Greek side somehow wants to maintain the status quo and opposes to the idea of a partnership state.
We really wonder whether Annan will be successful in his attempts this time. Taking into consideration the EU’s possible approval of the Greek Cypriots’ membership at December’s Copenhagen summit, the US, the EU and the UN are all trying to do their utmost to persuade the two parties to make certain concessions. However, Annan has a hard mission to accomplish. It’s not impossible but very difficult indeed.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION