Madam, - I write in response to an article by Richard Whelan entitled "EU caught in a diplomatic twist over a Muslim state" (Opinion & Analysis, December 28th).
His analysis of Turkey's path to the European Union, especially with regards to Cyprus, is distorted and misleading.
Mr Whelan essentially blames Cyprus for all the difficulties Turkey faces in its EU accession negotiations and argues that these stem from Cyprus's own accession to the EU while still divided and from the attitude Cyprus has taken towards Turkish accession.
First of all, the accession of Cyprus to the EU was never dependent on the settlement of the Cyprus problem. In recognising Turkey's long-standing intransigence on every effort to find a solution to the Cyprus problem since 1974, the EU decided at the Helsinki European Council of December 1999 that the accession of the Republic of Cyprus to the EU would be independent of a solution to the Cyprus problem.
Secondly, the efforts of the UN Secretary General to solve the Cyprus problem that culminated in the April 2004 referenda on the Annan Plan were never linked with Cyprus's accession.
Thirdly, Mr Whelan's argument that the accession of Greek Cypriots to the EU was "one of the extraordinary ironies of international diplomacy...", since it placed them "in a position of having the opportunity to 'derail' Turkish accession. . .[ something] they promptly set about doing" is riddled with faults and lacks any kind of factual validity.
As Mr Whelan is very well aware, the country that joined the EU on May 1st, 2004 is the Republic of Cyprus, which, according to UN Security Council resolutions, is the only legal State in Cyprus recognised by the international community. To argue that the Greek Cypriots became members of the EU and the Turkish Cypriots have been shut out is simply erroneous, since both Greek and Turkish Cypriots are Cypriot citizens and as such can enjoy equally the benefits of the Republic of Cyprus's EU membership.
As for Mr Whelan's assertion that EU accession placed the Greek Cypriots in a position to derail the Turkish accession - something that he claims they "promptly set about doing" - this is simply untrue. In two key EU decisions for Turkey, in December 2004 and in October 2005, the government of the Republic of Cyprus gave its consent for the actual opening of Turkey's accession negotiations with the EU, provided that Turkey would fully and unconditionally implement the additional protocol to the Ankara Agreement and that the EU would monitor and evaluate, during 2006, Turkey's progress towards implementation of the Ankara Protocol and the normalisation of its relations with all EU member-states, including Cyprus, on the basis of the declaration made by the European Community and its member-states on September 21st, 2005. It is, therefore, crystal-clear that in both these key EU decisions for Turkey, the government of the Republic of Cyprus voted in favour of Turkey's EU orientation.
Unfortunately, the only country that is not favouring Turkey's accession to the EU and that is able to completely derail its accession is Turkey itself, which is neither living up to its expectations as a candidate EU state nor meeting any of its obligations.
Finally, I would like to reiterate that the Republic of Cyprus has always been and will continue to be an ardent and genuine advocate of Turkey's full accession to the EU - provided, however, that Turkey will fully and unconditionally fulfil all the contractual obligations it has assumed towards the EU and all its member-states. - Yours, etc,
SOLON SAVVA,
Deputy Head of Mission,
Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus,
Dublin.