Cyprus hopes for end to division once Turkey fulfils EU obligations

The Sunday Times talks to the Cypriot President, Tassos Papadopoulos, who paid a state visit to Malta last week.

During a week-long visit to Cyprus three years ago at the invitation of the Cypriot government I had met a number of leading politicians, including the leaders of various political parties. Among them was Tassos Papadopoulos, then the leader of the small Democratic Party.

That week inter-communal talks, under the aegis of a United Nations envoy, had started between the Greek Cypriot community, led by President Glafkos Clerides, and the Turkish Cypriots, led by Rauf Denktash. There was some hope that the talks, which were to continue regularly for over a year, would lead to a permanent settlement of the division of the island. However, they were doomed to fail.

I recall that Mr Papadopoulos had insisted with me that the rights of the Greek Cypriots be fully respected, especially those who were dispossessed of their land in the northern third of the island occupied by Turkish troops since July, 1974.

Just over a year after our meeting, Tassos Papadopoulos was elected President of Cyprus with 51.5 per cent of the vote, defeating Mr Clerides, who obtained 38.5 per cent.

Meanwhile, Cyprus, along with Malta and eight East European states, joined the European Union on May 1, 2004, in its biggest enlargement ever. Cyprus' membership came just a few days after the Greek Cypriot community overwhelmingly rejected a very detailed 9,900-page plan for the island's reunification drawn up by Kofi Annan, the United Nations' Secretary-General. The Turkish Cypriot community, on the other hand, approved the plan by a majority of 60 per cent.

Last week President Papadopoulos - who is both head of state and head of government - was in Malta on a three-day state visit during which he had talks with the Prime Minister, Dr Lawrence Gonzi, and had meetings with President Eddie Fenech Adami, Opposition Leader Alfred Sant, and with the business community.

On Friday morning I interviewed President Papadopoulos at San Anton Palace, where he and Mrs Papadopoulos were staying. I began by asking him why the Greek Cypriots had rejected the Annan plan, what were his government's alternatives to it, and what were the prospects for reunification.

The President said that though the plan was described by some as "the best hope for the reunification of Cyprus", Turkey was demanding too much, and the plan gave it most of what it had asked for. For instance, under the plan, Turkish troops would have continued to occupy 37 per cent of Cyprus, when Turkish Cypriots owned only 12 per cent of the land.

"We do not want the division of the economy, of the land, to continue. Our proposals are aimed at removing the concerns of the Greek Cypriots. For instance, as a member of the EU, we cannot accept having two different monetary policies, two central banks, etc., in a small island. No country in the world has two different monetary policies.

"Likewise, how could Turkey, once we are in the EU, which Turkey aspires to join, continue to insist on militarily occupying part of Cyprus, occupying European soil? How can a member state continue to occupy another member state, more so against its people's will?

"Thirdly, how can Turkey negotiate with the EU the permanent regulation of movement of people while it continues to send new settlers in the northern part of Cyprus? Indigenous Turkish Cypriots are now far outnumbered by settlers from Turkey.

"Greek Cypriots own about 85 per cent of the land, yet they would be impeded from returning to their property. Only a trickle would be allowed back every seven years, and by the time the period is up most of them would be dead! Besides, the loss of land owned by Greek Cypriots, taken over by Turkish Cypriots, would be made good by the government of Cyprus!"

But hasn't the rejection of the Annan plan cost Cyprus a lot of goodwill in the European Union? President Papadopoulos admitted that this could have been so. Obviously the EU wanted the Cyprus problem removed from the agenda before the island joined.

"We wanted a viable, functional solution to the Cyprus problem, enabling Cyprus to play its role as a constructive member of the EU and not as a troublesome partner. Besides, everybody says that the will of the people must be respected by all. Those who rejected the plan, both on the Greek Cypriot side and on the Turkish Cypriot side, outnumbered those who voted in favour by two to one. The latter included many Turkish settlers, who were allowed to vote in northern Cyprus.

"The changes we want to the plan do not necessarily take away the rights of the Turkish Cypriots, but they are aimed at ensuring that a new Cypriot state will be functional and viable.

"These points refer mainly to settlers, the economy, the repossession of property by Greek Cypriots, and the speedy return of Greek Cypriots evicted from their homes in the Turkish-controlled area, say in two or three years, not in 20."

Will Cyprus, now that it is a member of the EU, use its new status to block Turkish membership of the Union?

President Papadopoulos replied that it will not. "We have already shown our goodwill and this results from the European Council decision of December 16-17 setting a date for the opening of membership negotiations with Turkey.

"First of all, because applying to join the EU carries with it a number of obligations on the part of the applicant country towards the EU. We hope that Turkey will comply with its obligations. Thereby it will create the parameters within which a solution compatible with the acquis communautaire will be negotiated.

"So on principle we do not oppose a closer association of Turkey with the EU, as long as it complies with its obligations."

Has EU membership lived up to Cyprus' expectations so far, and how has membership affected the average Cypriot's life?

Many of the measures a country has to take to comply with the acquis are unpopular, President Papadopoulos replied, and also costly. But they are measures which a country must take in order to improve the quality of life of its citizens. They are measures which in fact should be taken, whether it joins the EU or not. For example, measures regarding food hygiene, protection of the environment, consumer rights, and so many others. "These are good measures, which our membership has speeded up," he added.

Also, the level of subsidies is now controlled. Whereas before, for example, agricultural subsidies used to be paid according to production, they are now given according to the number of hectares under cultivation. Now less developed areas are benefiting.

Cyprus is a net contributor to the European Union, President Papadopoulos pointed out. Adopting the acquis has cost Cyprus - which received no pre-accession funds - the equivalent of one and a half year's budget expenditure, out of its own resources, but there is no doubt that politically and economically EU membership has been a good development for the island.

Besides, he remarked, Cypriot producers now have access to a market of 450 million people.

There are various areas where Malta and Cyprus can collaborate, such as in merchant shipping. Both islands, which have some of the largest shipping registers in the world, and together with Greece, successfully took a common stand in the EU on new regulations concerning marine pollution by commercial shipping, which they insisted should apply to all mercantile fleets. Otherwise many shipowners would have moved their vessels flying the Maltese or Cypriot flag to non-EU shipping registers.

Malta and Cyprus can also collaborate in getting EU funds as island-nations, given EU funding for islands, especially as they incur considerable expense to transport most of their imports by sea, President Papadopoulos said. Another area where the two can co-operate and exchange experiences and views is on banking and other financial services and fiscal incentives for foreign investment.

Malta and Cyprus are both members of the Commonwealth. President Papadopoulos said Cyprus supported the choice of Malta as the venue for this year's summit and the two countries are already consulting each other about views they wish to include in the final communiqué, which they will send to the Commonwealth Secretariat.

The threat of instability and a renewed flare-up of terrorism following the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik al-Hariri clearly worries President Papadopoulos. "Naturally, any threat to peace in our region affects us closely - tourism, economic activity in general. We are very saddened by what happened, although it is too early to say who was responsible", he said.

During the 15-year Lebanese civil war, a number of Lebanese sought refuge in Cyprus. Archbishop Makarios had instructed Mr Papadopoulous, then a minister, to treat them exactly as Greek Cypriot refugees fleeing from the northern part of the island.

One could not say that Cyprus had benefited from the civil war in Lebanon, the President insisted. In fact the Lebanese refugees stayed only temporarily in Cyprus. Many of them moved to France.

Here one could not help recalling that a prominent, very temporary, refugee in Malta in 1974 was none other than Cyprus' first President, Archbishop Makarios, who fled his homeland after a Greek junta-inspired coup, which eventually provoked the Turkish invasion of the island.

Obviously, Tassos Papadopoulos, Archbishop Makarios's successor, came to Malta last week in very different circumstances...