Cyprus Calls on Turkey To Help Find Solution

Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides Sunday called on Turkey to help find a settlement of the protracted Cyprus issue.

Kasoulides, reacting to recent statements by Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem with regard to Cyprus' accession to the European Union (EU), urged Turkey to persuade Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash to the negotiating table.

He made the remarks before leaving to Brussels to participate in the Euro-Mediterranean ministerial meeting.

The Turkish foreign minister had said that his country may soon be compelled to take "costly decisions" on Cyprus.On Cyprus' accession to the EU, Cem said Turkey will either haveto give up the Cyprus issue or not recognize the EU decision to accept Cyprus as a member.

Kasoulides believed that Ankara's policy on Cyprus has failed and its options are narrowed down.

He said that Turkey either has to accept Cyprus' EU accession without a prior political solution or move to find a solution, because accession will take place even without a settlement.

"Under the circumstances, Turkey has no option. If it wants to avoid this dilemma, it has to send back to the negotiating table Rauf Denktash with the political will to negotiate with a view to finding a settlement," he said, adding that now Ankara has time to act in a wise and correct manner.

Cyprus has remained divided into Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides since Turkish invasion in 1974 after a failed coup seeking union with Greece.

Denktash, backed by Turkey, withdrew from the UN-sponsored peace talks last November and, in early September, declined an invitation from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to resume the search for a comprehensive settlement, claiming the ground was not prepared.

Cyprus is set to conclude its EU membership talks at the end of next year and expects to join the EU shortly after that, in time for the European Parliament elections in 2004.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, Kasoulides will fly from Brussels to London for a meeting with his British counterpart Jack Straw and then to New York to meet Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides, who is scheduled to have a meeting with Annan on Friday and to address the UN General Assembly on Sunday.

(Xinhua News Agency November 5,2001)