Turkey’s foreign minister Abdullah Gul called on Tuesday for high level meetings no later than June this year under the auspices of the UN to start work on solving the Cyprus problem.
At the same time, he proposed an “action plan” that would involve Turkey implementing the Ankara Protocol by lifting restrictions on Cyprus ships and aircraft in return for the Republic of Cyprus government agreeing to the opening of ports and airports in northern Cyprus.
Speaking to CNN, Gul said that the plan was not a substitute for a comprehensive solution but that these steps were meant to “prove our sincerity for a solution.”
“We hope this can open the way to a comprehensive solution,” he said.
Turkey was obliged to sign the Ankara Protocol, which extends the customs union to all new member states including Cyprus, before the EU agreed to open accession negotiations last October. However, it has been dragging its feet over implementation, hoping to tie it with a deal on Turkish Cypriot trade.
The absence of the protocol may be connected with a reported decline in the Cyprus shipping fleet last year.
The Cyprus government, has meanwhile been blocking an EU plan to allow direct exports of Turkish Cypriot goods to the EU.
EU plans to provide financial assistance have also not borne fruit, owing to disagreements about whether it should be coupled with the trade package.
The announcement coincided with the arrival in Cyprus on Tuesday of Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, whom Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos has refused to meet, owing to a row about where Straw plans to meet the Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat.
Britain had hoped that meetings in Cyprus, followed by meetings in Greece and Turkey, would mark the start of new efforts to revive negotiations on a solution.
Will Papadopoulos go for it?
Whether Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos will accept the offer by Turkey is open to question.
Papadopoulos has consistently argued that any re-start of negotiations, which may also include high-level meetings, should have no fixed timetable and should be well prepared.
He may also argue that Turkey is obliged to implement the Ankara Protocol in any case, regardless of any deal on Turkish Cypriot trade.
However, there are fears that if the Republic of Cyprus does not respond in some positive way, Turkey will opt for an “Israeli policy” of imposing a solution on Greek Cypriots under its own terms.
Under pressure from Turkey, the Turkish Cypriot administration is already preparing to offer Greek Cypriots restitution or compensation of the property they fled during the Turkish invasionin 1974.
The Cyprus government has offered something resembling this deal before, although it also asked for the return of the ghost town of Varosha as part of a deal on Turkish Cypriot trade.
The likelihood of a return of Varosha has increased since the European Court of Human Rights recently ruled on a case that involved Greek Cypriot property in the area.
