MILLIYET- Columnist Sami Kohen writes on the solution plan for the Cyprus issue presented by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan earlier this week. A summary of his column is as follows:
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s solution plan for the Cyprus issue, both in its content and its timing, has set the island on a new, irreversible course. Annan’s plan presents reasonable grounds which both sides on the island can agree on, and so for the first time ever a Cyprus proposal constitutes a truly serious opportunity for a permanent settlement. Of course there are certain points in this comprehensive solution plan which both sides find inimical to their own positions and interests. Yet there are also other points on which the two sides can bargain. Whatever the prospects of the plan, both Rauf Denktas (hence, Ankara) and Glafcos Clerides (hence, Athens) must come to consider it as the ‘bona fide’ or ‘last’ opportunity for finding a solution to the Cyprus problem which has for so many years been a source of tension. Clerides and Denktas must realize that it is high time to reach an end on the issue in line with the new plan.
Both leaders, who have been involved in the Cyprus issue for coming on 50 years now, are the bearers of a historic responsibility. May God grant them long and healthy lives, but Clerides is 82 years old and Denktas is 78, and both of them suffer from heart disease. They have this very last chance to cap off their political careers with a joint triumph. True, the plan requires certain concessions on both sides’ part. But there is no doubt that coming generations on the island would lead a much happier life thanks to those concessions.
As I mentioned above, the possibility of the two sides’ opposing Annan’s plan is very small. The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly, it is in neither side’s interests to reject the solution plan altogether, as it addresses most of the particular issues that they insisted on. Secondly, rejecting the plan outright would amount to a setback to realizing their broader foreign policy goals. In this sense, it is obvious that the prospect of accession to the European Union has played a key role in the process.
It seems to me that the Greek Cypriot administration, in order to lock up its EU membership bid, is now ready to accept certain conditions which it had long opposed. That is why Clerides won’t reject this plan in the leadup to next month’s Copenhagen summit.
The new plan largely meets the Turkish side’s demands concerning its administrative status on the island. However, Denktas has some serious concerns and reservations on certain issues such as migration and handing over land. Of course the Turkish side must make concessions, too. Yet, these could be reduced to a minimum during the negotiations, and they should be assessed while keeping in mind that they will surely serve the Turkish side’s interests in the long run.
Let’s look the picture from the other way round, and not forget that rejecting the plan would surely deal a great blow to both Turkey’s and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ (TRNC) interests on the international stage.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION