The EU, Turkey and Cyprus by Arshad-uz Zaman
As negotiations continue for the membership of Turkey in the 25-nation powerful European Union, Turkey has come forward and unveiled her plan recently for removing the political obstacle posed by Cyprus (South). Although the plan has been initially rejected by Cyprus and her mentor Greece as 'old wine in new bottle' the 10-point Cyprus Plan of Turkey is an interesting initiative to break the logjam. We may recall that after hard bargaining during the last European Union (EU) Summit it was decided that a date was set for the start of serious negotiations between Turkey and the EU. The idea is that EU will thoroughly examine the progress of Turkey in all possible fields which includes human rights, the state of the economy and related matters. Turkey should be considered to have achieved a standard at par with other member states. If we travel farther back we may note that Turkey has been waiting at the door of the EU for more than four decades. There has been ups and downs, mostly downs, but it speaks something for Turkish tenacity that they have hung on. They got some mileage from joining the Customs Union in the early nineties. This opening ajar the door for duty-free entry of all kinds of goods within the territory of Turkey has not been without pain. Turkey made a major breakthrough in 1999 at the Summit in Helsinki, the capital of Finland, when she extracted the promise of membership. Turkey has continued to struggle and it is only last year that she was given a date for start of serious negotiations. Turkey crossed that major hurdle by carrying through sweeping breathtaking reforms, leaving the entire EU members in awe. Those reforms forced the doubters to offer a date for start of negotiations.
Greek Cyprus is out to extract her pound of flesh from Turkey. She wants that Turkey should lift restriction of flights in Northern Cyprus and lift embargo on entry of Cypriot ships in Turkish Cypriot port. Turkish Cyprus has been the victim of a world embargo since 1974. In order for Turkish Cyprus to open her port and airspace to everyone including Greek Cyprus, Turkish Cyprus rightly demands that special arrangements for its practical inclusion as an economic entity, into the EU Customs Union should be made. Also steps must be taken for unhindered direct trade between both sides of the island as well as with the outside world. Since joining the EU Greek Cyprus has been campaigning for access her trade and movement of people in Turkish Cyprus and she has sympathetic ears among many. On the other hand when Greek Cyprus was included in the EU the organisation promised the Turkish Cypriots that their burden would be eased. The latest 10-point plan aims at finding a way out. It would be worth the effort to move forward since all are set to gain.
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