HURRIYET- Columnist Sedat Ergin comments on the need to solve Aegean issues for the sake of Turkey’s European Union membership bid. A summary of his column is as follows:
The European Union’s postponing to the end of 2004 giving Turkey a date for starting membership negotiations at its summit last week has put Turkey at a decisive stage in terms of Cyprus and Turkish-Greek problems. Among these two, Cyprus is the one lying in the short-term. The Turkish side has nearly three months to decide how to proceed on the issue. The solution plan prepared by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan states that the deadline for the parties to sign the agreement is Feb. 28. Under the plan, once the agreement is signed there will be a referendum on March 30 in both Northern and Southern Cyprus. This will be followed by the signature of EU accession agreements by the Union’s 10 new members on April 10. The mood and enthusiasm of the agreement’s signing ceremony depends on a solution to the Cyprus problem. If a solution can be found, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas and Greek Cypriot administration leader Glafcos Clerides will both sign the agreement as the island’s ‘founding partners.’ But if a solution is not found, Clerides will sit at the table alone and his signature will represent the Greek Cypriot side only. However, a single signature would cast a dark shadow over the ceremony. This is the scenario the EU most wants to avoid. The EU’s restlessness on this issue shows that Turkey holds some good cards to bargain with. The Turkish side can use this situation for its own benefit.
Meanwhile, the matter of the Turkish-Greek issues will be on Turkey’s agenda in the middle term. It’s interesting to note the parallelism between the decision taken at last week’s Copenhagen summit and 1999’s Helsinki summit, in that the date 2004 was pronounced at both occasions. As the fourth paragraph of the Helsinki document states, ‘The European Council [EC] stresses the principle of peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with the United Nations Charter and urges candidate states to make every effort to resolve any outstanding border disputes and other related issues. Failing this they should within a reasonable time bring the dispute to the International Court of Justice. The EC will review the situation relating to any outstanding disputes, in particular concerning the repercussions on the accession process and in order to promote their settlement through the International Court of Justice, at the latest by the end of 2004.’ Clearly, here we can see a direct relation between Turkey’s accession process and bringing Turkish-Greek problems to the International Court. In other words, even if Turkey meets the political criteria in 2004, the EU can easily use a lack of progress on the Aegean issues to justify delaying us again. This possibility will spur Turkey to find a solution to the Aegean problems within two years. Thus, we should be prepared to discuss all the conflicting issues of the Aegean Sea, including the matters of the continental shelf, territorial waters and airspace.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION