Irish diplomat launches EU initiative on Cyprus

THE retired Irish diplomat appointed by the EU Presidency as its Cyprus co-ordinator, Mr Kester Heaslip, begins a fact finding visit to the island today.

Unfortunately, Mr Heaslip has arrived at a time of rising inter communal tension caused by the near collapse of the recent US initiative to reduce confrontation between Turkish and Greek Cypriot troops along the "Green Line" and by incidents of Turkish military provocation.

Mr Heaslip was Ireland's ambassador to Bonn and The Hague and headed the Economic Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs. He was appointed by the Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Spring, in the belief that there could be "a window of opportunity" to solve the Cyprus problem in the 18 months before Cyprus begins EU accession talks.

"There is a role for the EU to play," Mr Spring told a Cypriot weekly, and "we will continue to develop that role".

An agreement to bring together the commanders of the 35,000 strong Turkish expeditionary force on the island and the local Greek Cypriot National Guard was brokered 10 days ago by the US ambassador to the UN, Ms Madeleine Albright.

But this has been put on hold because the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr Rauf Denktash, now insists that the commander of the local Turkish Cypriot force should also attend.

President Glafkos Clerides of Cyprus rejected this demand because it would constitute recognition of the de facto "Turkish Republic of North Cyprus" recognised only by Ankara. Mr Clerides also returned a letter from the Turkish Cypriot leader calling for the resumption of direct talks because Mr Denktash styled himself "president".

The UN and Britain agree with Mr Clerides that high level talks cannot be resumed until the positions of the two sides have been brought dose enough to secure a final settlement through direct contact.

The diplomatic reverses have been accompanied by an escalation of military provocations by the Turkish side. These include the violation of Cyprus airspace by five Turkish F-16 fighter planes, a shooting n the "Green Line" in the Famagust a district and stone throwing incidents by Turkish soldiers into a sensitive Greek Cypriot neighbourhood in Nicosia.

Diplomats in Nicosia believe these provocations constitute a warning to the Greek Cypriots and the EU that Turkey could use destabilisation as a means of blocking a settlement and, perhaps, even EU accession. EU membership is opposed by the Turkish Cypriots and Turkey which claim that Cyprus cannot become a member until Turkey does.

Cyprus and the EU received official UN sanction for commencing accession talks when, at the end of June, the Security Council adopted a resolution stating that accession was "an important new development that should facilitate an overall settlement" of the Cyprus problem. This resolution increases the importance of the role of the EU and of Mr Heaslip, as its representative in the drive to reunify Cyprus.