http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=63996
Europe, Cyprus And Turkey Published: 8/5/2005 BY TAHA AKYOL MILLIYET- Did our signing the additional Customs Union protocol mean recognizing the Greek Cypriot administration? According to both the domestic opposition and former President Suleyman Demirel, yes it did. But if we were to ask them what they would do if they were in the government's shoes, they wouldn't be able to answer. Although France knows that signing doesn't equal recognition, it says Turkey is obliged to recognize the Greek Cypriot administration so its EU membership talks can begin on Oct. 3. Will Turkey do this in order to start the talks as scheduled? Absolutely no! Perhaps some will ask, `Turkey doesn't recognize the Greek Cypriot administration, but won't it have to open Turkish harbors and airports to the Greek Cypriots?' And here is Ankara's answer: `Never! Absolutely no! Neither we, nor any government in Europe, including Paris, should dream of such a thing.' Ankara is suffering from a pathological period of retreating into itself, and the French flag-waving has played the leading role in this by both rejecting the EU constitution and taking a hostile stance against Turkey. Both French President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin make shocking remarks against Turkey. They're doing this not because they are enemies of Turkey, but to make policy through flag-waving. According to Ankara, being involved in tense discussions and having to fight different fronts in Europe would not be to our benefit. For this reason, we should keep our cool. Can France prevent the start of our membership talks on Oct. 3 by citing Cyprus as a pretext? No, because the decision was made with the EU Commission's agreement last Dec. 17. If France wants to block this, the EU Commission must make another decision, saying, `No, we aren't starting membership talks with Turkey.' In addition, it's a positive factor that Britain, a friendly country, is now EU term president. However, our talks will obviously be hard. Now I'd like to point out the following: 1. Turkey can never recognize the Greek Cypriot administration or open its harbors and airports to Greek Cypriots. This is as important as the Treaty of Lausanne and the National Pact. 2. Even if in the end we're unable join the EU, we are benefiting from the negotiating process. There are positive developments in the economy, deriving not only from economic policies, but also from our EU membership bid. We know the positive impact of this strengthening of the rule of law. In sum, we can never make concessions for Greek Cypriots, and we should continue our EU bid. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> <font face=arial size=-1><a href="http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12h2qolpg/M=362329.6886306.7839369.3040540/D=groups/S=1705323667:TM/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1124651269/A=2894321/R=0/SIG=11dvsfulr/*http://youthnoise.com/page.php?page_id=1992 ">Fair play? Video games influencing politics. Click and talk back!</a>.</font> --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
