TEARZ._______________cyprus issue

Since you were interested.

This just in.

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UN Presses for Elusive Unification Deal on Cyprus

Tue February 10, 2004 04:46 PM ET

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UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan pressed Greek and Turkish Cypriots on Tuesday to agree to clinch an elusive deal to unify Cyprus before it joins the European Union on May 1.

Annan met Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash in what diplomats said would be the final chance for the two sides to end three decades of division on the Mediterranean island.

The U.N. leader hoped an initial round of meetings he was hosting in New York on Tuesday would lead to agreement on a work program and ground rules for later talks in Cyprus.

What the United Nations was seeking was a "commitment of the two parties to reach an agreement," U.N. chief spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters. "If that is forthcoming, then detailed technical talks would resume as quickly as possible."

Ahead of Annan's one-on-one meetings with Papadopoulos and Denktash, followed by a meeting with both leaders, veteran U.N. diplomat Alvaro De Soto shuttled between the two sides' New York hotels to try to smooth the way for a favorable outcome.

Cyprus has been split along ethnic lines since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded the north of the island after a Greek Cypriot coup backed by Greece.

Turkey and Greece, patrons of the island's two ethnic communities, both have troops stationed there. Ankara has about 30,000 soldiers in the northern third, while Athens keeps fewer than 5,000 in the Greek Cypriot part to the south.

While Turkey alone recognizes Denktash's statelet, the Greek Cypriot government is widely recognized and will enter the European Union with or without a reunification deal.

'A DEAL WILL NOT COME EASILY'

Turkey has therefore put heavy pressure on Denktash, who was widely blamed for the collapse of an earlier round of talks last March, to return to the negotiating table.

Ankara knows that failure to reach a settlement would deepen the Turkish Cypriots' isolation and damage Turkey's own hopes of launching entry talks with the EU. The European Union and United States are also pushing hard for a deal.

"The pressure on the Turkish Cypriot side is tremendous," said one Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. "This is definitely their last chance to join the EU. If they want to be a part of it, it has to be now."

In unusually strong language underlining Turkey's new-found desire for a swift settlement, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said the Turkish Cypriots whom Ankara has sponsored for three decades would pay a high price if the talks failed.

"We have given a road map to Denktash. We will see how loyal he will be," Erdogan was quoted as telling the Anatolian state news agency.

Previous U.N.-backed talks have bogged down repeatedly since the 1970s, due to an inability to agree over how much power would go to a central government and how much to Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot zones in a federal state.

Annan wants the two sides to accept a previously drafted U.N. blueprint as the basis for the negotiations, and he wants the talks wrapped up by late March, after which he would fill in any blanks in a peace deal that the north and south would vote on in separate referendums on April 21.

But both parties were uncomfortable with Annan's demand that they commit in advance to an April referendum, and it was unclear they would accept his terms for relaunching the talks.

++ From Reuters ++

little island.

big hatred.

i always thought cyprus was part of greece.

hooray for the american public school system!

Well it is in a way...you cant know everything.

That issue is really close to the middle-east

no jews/no fame;)

superrad

i gotta eat something then i'll revisit the issue. thanks man. what are the people saying over there?

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Re: superrad

Originally posted by TEARZ

what are the people saying over there?

Well, seems like everyone is fed up with Denktash for being so negative...when i say everyone i mean greeks,greek-cypriots, turks, EU's, americans, UN's...everyone involved in one way or another.

Greece and greek/cypriots made the success last year. Cyprus is in the EU nomatter what...this affects mostly the turkish/cypriots and their future. Wealth and recognition or Poverty and isolation.

Personally, i still hold back a bit knowing that Denktash is an old school turkish negociation cat...i cant cross out the possibilty of pulling some rabbits out of the hat. Turks have used their geographical position and complete army state to the point they survive on a monthly US paycheck...they seem to fuck up a bit lately though(i.e. iraq)

However, as long as Turkeys prime minister wants in the EU...Denktash must play nice or get thrown away.

Originally posted by Tesseract

no jews/no fame

this is both hilarious and depressing.

Bump because I'm interested.

word, i'll keep this thread updated since the whole show is about to start in 2 days..fingers crossed the new gov can handle it

word...I'm also interested. one of my friends parents still live there.

nice tess. everyone break out your hitchens books now.

holy shit. this sounds like a nightmare. how this is going to be done is beyond me. sounds like nobody is really happy. tess?

well, Turkeys PM was more than satisfied...they get to leave their illegal army in there until they enter the EU...cyprus has been their passport into the union it seems...turks are excellent diplomats.

On a long shot, turkey enetring the EU is bad news and i aint being racist here...there are so many issues

A) They're not european...geographically

B) They're not european...culturaly...different religion, different references

C) they're still runned by the army on the dl

D) Their economy is actually a monthly check from the US (with that kind of poverty, once the borders open half the country will move to other EU countries)

E) They're 68,109,469 million people...that would automatically make them really powerfull in the euro parliament with an agenta very different from anyone else.

and the list goes on

damn inhabitants of asia-minor... ;)

how dare they consider themselves european... i know you're not being racist, but just the fact that in a situation like this that you are referencing their historical and cultural differences is a very "european" thing to do. most americans don't consider history at all... not a good or bad thing one way or another, just pointing out a "difference" that doesn't often show itself here on 12oz.

so wait... papadopoulos is going to retain leadership of the south while denktash will head up the north still? that seems crazy... so if the referendum goes, then they'll enter into the EU as one nation divided into two states right? that seems like a problem already...

well greek cyprus is coming into the EU one way or another anyway i suppose... holla

Looks like some of my posts got lost in the meltdown...since you're the only one interested in this i take it you remember what i had to say.

BREAKING NEWS:

Papadopoulos, on national TV, explained why the Anan plan is not a vital solution and that it doesnt serve greek-cypriots nor turk-cypriots but only Turkey. And finally, in tears, urged his people to vote NO on the 24th of april.

I'm all about this.

After the 24th and on the basis of a 90% vote agaisnt the EU plan we're about to witness just how democratic and humanitarian the EU is...stay tuned cause its all uphill from here.

So Tesseract... since I am interested as well and missed your earlier comments that were lost in the meltdown, would you be so kind as to tell me just what happened? It appears that the EU slot will be lost....

what you mean by EU slot?

The Greekpart will enter the EU nomatter what.

Its 4 am now and its a 30 year action story...if you can wonder around in news sites and read some shit on this i'll be more tha willing to pitch in if you have questions or wanna discuss it