MILLIYET- Columnist Fikret Bila writes about the Cyprus issue and the decision on Turkey’s EU membership taken at last week’s EU Copenhagen summit. A summary of his column is as follows:
What happened at last week’s Copenhagen summit? According to a great many journalists, Turkey won a victory and assured its EU membership even though the summit’s outcome fell far short of its expectations. And as for the Cyprus issue, the very same people contend that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) missed a great opportunity, and that young Turkish Cypriots failed to join the prosperous civilization that the Greek Cypriots offered.
First of all, the decision on Turkey taken at the Copenhagen summit, which at the end boiled down to extending a conditional date in 2004 for the country’s entry to the Union, is anything but a guarantee of its candidacy status. Turkey’s candidacy was already approved at 1999’s Helsinki summit. In this respect, there is nothing novel about the decision. The only new element is that Turkey has to wait for two more years to receive a date for the beginning of its accession negotiations. Thus, it wouldn’t be realistic to evaluate the 2004 rendezvous as a guarantee of Turkey’s future EU membership. Yet, there is nothing more reasonable for Turkey to do than maintaining its EU orientation.
When it comes to the Cyprus issue, the EU granted membership to the Greek side, a decision which benefited neither Turkey nor the TRNC. It would be too shallow a perspective to claim that if TRNC President Rauf Denktas had put his signature on the UN peace proposal, the Turkish Cypriots could have entered the EU with their Greek counterparts. The Cyprus issue is crucial to Turkey’s national interests and it carries great strategic importance. Turkey’s 1974 Peace Operation on Cyprus came as a reaction to Greek Cypriots’ efforts to invade and take control of the rest of the island and their attempts to massacre Turkish Cypriots. As I have said, the Cyprus issue is critical to Turkey’s national interests and strategic concerns. That’s why it cannot be given as a concession for Turkey’s EU membership.
Moreover, Turkey and the TRNC have sufficient time to reach settlement on the issue before Greek Cyprus officially joins the EU in May 2004. Both Turkey and the TRNC have powerful cards to play at the negotiation table, as the EU favors a reunified island before it lets the Greek side in.
National issues cannot be handled in the way that individual issues are. Inter-state relations do not resemble in any way those between individuals.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION