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ANKARA: 'AK Party May Suspend Relations With EU'

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  • ANKARA: 'AK Party May Suspend Relations With EU'

    'AK PARTY MAY SUSPEND RELATIONS WITH EU'
    By Ayhan Simsek

    The New Anatolian, Turkey
    Sept 26 2005

    * Former PM Yilmaz: EU declaration is Greek Cypriot victory

    ANKARA - Former PM Yilmaz, who led liberal reforms for EU bid,
    criticizes the EU's link between Turkey's accession and Cyprus in
    counter-declaration. 'The AK Party govt can't meet excessive demands,
    such as moving towards recognizing Greek Cyprus or opening ports,
    due to domestic political concerns,' he says. 'But my worry is that
    given rising nationalism in Turkey, they may go towards suspending
    relations with the EU'

    Yilmaz criticizes the EU for undermining UN peace efforts and diverting
    the issue to the EU, just as the Greek Cypriots wanted.

    'This has come about through support from some EU members opposing
    Turkey's membership,' he says. 'They're using Cyprus to obstruct
    or delay Turkey's membership. If not Cyprus they would've used the
    Kurdish issue. Failing that, it would have been the genocide claims'

    The ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party government can't meet
    the European Union's excessive demands, such as moving towards a
    recognition of Greek Cyprus or opening its ports, due to domestic
    political concerns, said former Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, in an
    exclusive interview with The New Anatolian on Friday.

    "But my worry is that, because of rising nationalism in the country,
    they may go towards suspending relations with the EU," he warned.

    Yilmaz, a prominent Turkish politician, 1997-99 Motherland Party
    (then ANAP) prime minister and later deputy premier who initiated
    key EU accession reforms, criticized the EU's recent Cyprus
    counter-declaration for having established a link between Turkey's
    EU membership process and the Cyprus problem, as well as requesting
    the recognition of Greek Cyprus during negotiations.

    "The EU gave us a commitment at the 1999 Helsinki summit that Turkey's
    membership and the Cyprus issue were separate issues," said Yilmaz,
    referring to the summit at which Turkey officially became an EU
    candidate. "However, they tried to retract this at last December's EU
    summit and in doing so benefited from the AK Party's foreign policy
    missteps. Requesting our signature on the Ankara Protocol was, in
    fact, aimed at linking the two issues. And we have to admit that
    through the counter-declaration, the Greek Cypriots have achieved
    a strategic victory. They sidelined the United Nations' efforts for
    peace and moved the issue to the EU."

    According to Yilmaz, downplaying the declaration since it's not legally
    binding would be a mistake. "It's true that Turkey's negotiations
    framework is more important than the declaration. But the declaration
    will be the basis for future EU policies on Cyprus.

    Next year the Greek Cypriots will try to push the EU by using it,"
    he underlined.

    Turkey to pay for AK Party missteps

    Yilmaz recalled the warning he made just before last December's
    EU summit that Turkey should maintain a firm stance on the issue
    and strongly reject any reference to Cyprus as part of Turkey's EU
    membership process. "Given the AK Party's short-term policies and
    missteps at that time, Turkey is paying a heavy price today. The
    Greek Cypriots took advantage of political changes in Europe. The
    year before, after the (April 2004) Annan referendum on Cyprus,
    Turkey's position was stronger on the issue but today the overall
    climate has changed," Yilmaz stressed.

    Some members using Cyprus as pretext

    While decrying the counter-declaration for undermining UN peace efforts
    on Cyprus, Yilmaz also criticized several EU members for using the
    Cyprus issue as a pretext to obstruct Turkey's EU membership in the
    near future. Underlining that the Greek Cypriots managed to get such a
    declaration through the support of those members, Yilmaz said, "They
    had the Cyprus issue to use. If they hadn't had the Cyprus problem,
    they would have used the Kurdish issue. Failing that, it would have
    been the Armenian 'genocide' claims."

    While strongly criticizing the EU's Cyprus counter-declaration and
    maintaining that the AK Party government may go forward and suspend
    relations with the EU, Yilmaz adopted a more cautious position on
    freezing relations with the EU now.

    "It's better to wait and see the final decision on the negotiations
    framework," he said. "If they also put such clauses on Cyprus in the
    framework, it will be unacceptable to Turkey. Otherwise the start of
    negotiations will be good for Turkey. But progress can only be made
    through a solution on Cyprus. So Turkey has to work hard for that.

    And I believe that Turkey will find support for this from the
    international community."
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