March 11, 2003

Cyprus talks break down

Marathon peace talks to pave the way for the reunification of Cyprus have collapsed, heralding the end of the UN's peace mission there.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan held talks late into Monday night in a final attempt to reach a deal ahead of a UN deadline.

But even an offer to extend the deadline failed, when Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash said there was no immediate prospect of further discussions.

Turkish Cypriots thought they were being asked to cede too much land, and the Greek Cypriot side thought too few refugees were being given the right to return home.

But ultimately it was the Turkish Cypriot side which refused to even talk further, and which was blamed for the failure of the peace process.

Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos confirmed that the talks had produced "no agreement", although he had been willing to continue talks.

"Denktash is not ready to accept the Annan plan," he said.

Mr Denktash said that he would not put the proposals to his people in referendums which would have been held on 30 March.

"The plan was unacceptable for us. This was not a plan we would ask our people to vote for," Mr Denktash said.

The talks, at The Hague, were a last-ditch attempt to reunite the Mediterranean island before it joins the European Union next year.
[...]
It now looks almost certain that, when Cyprus signs the treaty, membership will in effect only be given to the southern, Greek Cypriot part of the island.

"We always stated that we wanted to join (the EU), but not as a minority of a Greek Cyprus," said Mr Denktash, after the talks had failed.
[Even though the Turks on Cyprus are a minority--18%--of the total population!--J.T.]

The UN plan would have created a Swiss-style federation of Greek and Turkish Cypriot constituent states.

Mr Denktash has been under public pressure to agree to the UN plan, with growing numbers of Turkish Cypriots hoping for a boost to their economy through EU membership.

I think the Turks are feeling pretty full of themselves right now...first, they had NATO fighting over their protection, then they got the U.S. to do a dance for them waving a $15+ billion dollar bill for their help which they had the "anti-war conviction" to turn down and now they're telling the UN to go to hell.
Turkey probably would have done this before the current Blix/ElBaradei farce in the UN of recent months, but given the Weasel powers' contrariness in opposing our U.S.-led Iraqi war, the dear UN hasn't done a lot for its own image of late:
why should Turkey respect the peace plan of such an "irrelevant" and impotent organization?
But, of course, they promise that they'll totally respect the EU, if they're allowed to become a member of that...
Thousands may believe them, but I don't.