"For Turkey, Cyprus' entry as a split country could be a disaster for its own EU bid... It is just suicidal for any [Turkish] political force to appear as if they are standing between Turkey and the EU..."
Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders today began historic talks aimed at
reuniting the island before it enters the European Union on May 1.
The UN envoy, Alvaro de Soto, greeted President Tassos Papadopoulos
of Greek Cyprus and Rauf Denktash, his Turkish Cypriot counterpart, at
Nicosia's abandoned airport in the buffer zone dividing the island.
A bombed out passenger jet stood in a field near the airport and
buildings were pockmarked with bullet holes from 1974, the year
supporters of union with Greece staged a coup and the Turkish army
invaded, events which split the island in two.
But there are fears that extremists could try and disrupt the
UN-sponsored talks. Hours before the start of the talks, a small bomb
exploded at the home of Mehmet Ali Talat, the prime minister of the
self-declared Turkish Cypriot state. A neighbour was slightly injured by
flying glass.
"In this process, there may be some people who are disturbed by the
two communities coming closer, but such acts will not make us return
from this path," Mr Talat told reporters outside his home.
UN police from Australia and Ireland patrolled the abandoned
airport as the talks got under way.
The United States and the EU have put pressure on Turkey and
Greece to push their ethnic communities on the island to reach a
settlement by May 1.
Cyprus then joins the EU, either as a united country or one with UN
peacekeepers patrolling the buffer zone.
For Turkey, Cyprus' entry as a split country could be a disaster
for its own EU bid. Turkey has 40,000 troops on the north of the island
and EU leaders have made it clear that those soldiers could be
considered as occupying EU territory after May 1.
The last round of talks collapsed in April when Mr Denktash
rejected the reunification plan proposed by Kofi Annan, the UN secretary
general.
Mr Denktash said that uniting the Turkish Cypriot north with the
Greek Cypriot south would lead to Greek Cypriot domination. The south,
with a population of 600,000, has three times as many people as the
north and about five times the per capita income.
But the EU accession has become increasingly popular in northern
Cyprus, which is internationally isolated as well as poorer, and
enthusiasm for membership has put intense pressure on Mr Denktash since
his fellow hardliners lost control of parliament in the January
elections.
At the same time, Mr Denktash faces pressure from Turkey. "It is
just suicidal for any [Turkish] political force to appear as if they are
standing between Turkey and the EU," Soner Cagaptay, an analyst with
the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told the Associated
Press.
The plan calls for a single state with Greek and Turkish Cypriot
federal regions, linked through a weak central government. But many
details, such as how many Turkish troops would remain on the island and
how many refugees could return to their homes, are sharply contested.
According to the timetable for the talks, the two sides have five
weeks to work out an agreement using the Annan plan as their basis.
If they fail, Greece and Turkish leaders will enter the talks. And
if that fails, Mr Annan has the right to fill in the blanks and put the
agreement to a referendum on each side of the island on April 21.
Newspapers on both sides of the island held out the hope that the
talks, which have strict deadlines, could succeed after decades of
failures.
"The historic process is beginning today," headlined Kibris, the
largest newspaper on the Turkish side.
"Beginning of the end," said the Greek Cypriot paper Politis."