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ANKARA: The Azerbaijanis And Cyprus

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  • ANKARA: The Azerbaijanis And Cyprus

    Turkish Press
    May 7 2004

    The Azerbaijanis And Cyprus
    BYEGM: 5/7/2004
    BY ERDAL GUVEN

    RADIKAL- The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) declared its
    independence on November 15, 1983 and was recognized by Turkey the
    very same day. But for the next 21 years, no other country extended
    recognition. How could this be? After the TRNC was founded, the UN
    Security Council adopted Resolution 541 condemning the TRNC's
    self-declared founding and calling on all UN members not to recognize
    any Cypriot state besides the `Republic of Cyprus' (that is, Greek
    Cyprus). Therefore only Ankara recognized the TRNC and even if Turkey
    turned its nose up, the whole rest of the world recognizes the
    `Republic of Cyprus' as the sole legal representative of the island.

    The issue also carries a geopolitical aspect. The TRNC is a concrete
    form of separation in the context of international relations and was
    formed unilaterally as a result of military intervention by Turkey.
    However, today's geopolitics frowns on separatism, micro-nationalism
    and political formations based on ethnicity excepting where there is
    mutual consent. On the contrary, today's geopolitics favors
    integration based upon democracy, political equality and economic
    sharing. This is another political reason why the TRNC is not
    recognized. The interests and policies of countries faced with splits
    or threatened by separation are in line with this geopolitics. One of
    those countries is Azerbaijan, with its problem of upper Karabakh.
    The serious problem faced by Baku is that 20% of its land is
    currently occupied by Armenia and the upper Karabakh separatist
    movement. Therefore, the Azerbaijani representatives in the European
    Council's Parliament were leaning towards not recognizing the TRNC.
    `The Parliament vote would mean recognizing the TRNC,' said one
    Azerbaijani official. `This would set a risky precedent for the
    future recognition of the administration in upper Karabakh.' This
    development should remind Turkey that in international relations
    there is no friendship or brotherhood, but only interests.



    SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS
    AND INFORMATION

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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