Turkey hopes EU stance will be rewarded

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan today said the European Union should reward Turkey and Turkish Cypriots for their positive stance in the referendum on a UN plan to reunite the island, which they endorsed and Greek Cypriots rejected.

For Turkey, that would mean an EU decision to start long-awaited membership negotiations, and for Turkish Cypriots an end to their decades of political and economic isolation.

Although technically not a condition for Turkish membership, EU officials have warned that its hopes to open membership talks could falter unless it helped resolve the 30-year division of the island. EU leaders make their decision on whether to approve Turkey’s candidacy in December.

Erdogan’s government, which has made EU membership a top priority, was instrumental in reviving reunification talks and encouraged Turkish Cypriots to vote yes in yesterday’s referendum.

“We believe that the steps that we took should count as positive marks for Turkey,” Erdogan said.

“We expect the great step that we have taken will be met with the same warm approach - we have faith that we shall get the response we deserve in the EU platform,” Erdogan said.

Final results showed that despite American and European support for the UN plan, 76% of Greek Cypriots voted “no” while the Turkish Cypriot vote was 65% “yes”. The referendum required approval from both sides in order for the UN plan to come into effect.

“It is an undeniable fact that the Turkish side was the active and constructive side for a Cyprus solution,” Erdogan said. “I believe that the policy of isolating, of alienating (Turkish Cypriots) will now come to an end.”

The results of the referendum means Cyprus will not join the European Union on May 1 as a united state and that EU laws and benefits will apply only to the Greek Cypriot side.

Yesterday, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul also said the results should mean an end to international political and economic isolation for the Turkish Cypriot north, which is recognised as a separate state only by Turkey. Some 40,000 Turkish troops also remain in the island’s north.

Turkish Cypriots, impoverished by the lengthy international political and economic isolation, ignored opposition from their leader, Rauf Denktash, and accepted a reduction of Turkish-control from 37% of the island to 29%. Had the plan been passed, the people of entire villages would have been required to leave and the houses returned to the original Greek Cypriot owners.

Greek Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos cited security as the key reason why Greek Cypriots rejected the plan. Many Greek Cypriots were reluctant to accept it after the UN Security Council failed to adopt a resolution ensuring their security.

Cyprus has been split into a Greek Cypriot-controlled south and a Turkish-occupied north since Turkey invaded in 1974 after a coup by supporters of union with Greece.