TURKISH PRESS
AND OTHER MEDIA
No.159/04
20.08.04
A.NEWS ITEMS
1. Talat: Turkey’s signing of Customs Union with Republic of Cyprus is inevitable.
2. “The graves will be opened”!
3. The Turkish Cypriot so-called minister of finance admits that the negative provisions of the Annan Plan on the issue
of the properties gave the Turkish Cypriots the incentive to built on Greek Cypriot properties.
A.NEWS ITEMS
1.Talat: Turkey’s signing of Customs Union with Republic of Cyprus is inevitable
Local Turkish Cypriot daily KIBRIS newspaper (20.08.04) reports that the so-called prime minister of the occupation regime
Mehmet Ali Talat has said that Turkey’s signing a Customs Union (CU) agreement with the Republic of Cyprus is inevitable.
Answering questions put to him by a Turkish Cypriot journalist Mehmet Ali Talat said that Turkey will enter into Customs Union
with the Republic of Cyprus as it did with the other nine new EU members. “However,” he added,“ I think while doing this
Turkey will ask the Cyprus government to fulfill its pledges”. Talat noted that during his contacts in Ankara he did not discussed
this issue with the Turkish official. What they discussed was the difficulties being faced by the occupied area in its relations with
the EU, he added.
Talat went on and said that the Free Trade Regulation (FTR) and the aid package were two very vital steps for the occupied
area and that they want these two to be put into practice together. Talat alleged that the Cyprus government was trying to
separate the aid package from the FTR and handle them separately and claimed that “once the Greek Cypriots secured this
they want to postpone the application of the Free Trade Regulations.” He said that they do not consider the postponement of the
FTR appropriate. He concluded by saying that the Green Line regulations were not a solution to the occupied area’s problems.
2. “The graves will be opened”!
Under the above title Turkish Cypriot daily YENI DUZEN newspaper (20.08.04) publishes an interview by Rustem Tatar, the
Turkish Cypriot representative on the Committee on Missing Persons who said that the Committee is expected to meet in the
next few days.
In statements to the illegal TAK news agency, Mr Tatar alleged that the reason for the non-solution of the missing persons’
issue was the fact that the Greek Cypriot side did not accept that those persons are dead and that those Greek Cypriots who
were murdered during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus should be separated from those who were killed during the 15 July coup
of the Greek Junta.
Mr Tatar said that the issue took new and different dimensions after the conviction of Turkey by the European Court of Human
Rights as a result of the appeal of the Republic of Cyprus in 1996.
Mr Tatar noted that the Turkish side assured in writing the ECHR in June that it is ready to cooperate in all the ways on the
issue, including the opening of graves. He also pointed out they have told the Committee of Representatives of the Council of
Europe that they could act unilaterally if the Greek Cypriot side did not respond to their proposals. Mr Tatar underlined the
importance of making some steps on the issue by 28 September 2004, when the Committee of Representatives of the Council
of Europe is expected to submit a report on the Turkish proposals.
Mr Tatar said that the new process began after the positive answer of the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr Rauf Denktas and
President Papadopoulos to the letter which the UN Secretary – General sent to the sides on 4 August.
He also noted that the biggest problem of the Turkish side in the new process was the lack of the necessary infrastructure and
organization. “Who will open the graves, who will take the samples for the DNA test? This is a problem that we have to solve.
2
We are going to open the graves which are in our territory, but there is a need for experts, equipment and institutions
concerned”, he admitted.
Mr Tatar supported that the Turkish side should have a say in the process if the facilities which exist in the Republic of Cyprus
will be used in common and noted that they have asked the Republic of Cyprus to inform them about the Turkish Cypriots who
gave blood samples for DNA test in the free areas of Cyprus.
Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot daily ORTAM newspaper (20.08.04) writes that a Turkish Cypriot woman named Sevilay Berk has
sent a letter to the Un Secretary – General Koffi Anan asking him to help in order that the remains of her parents a re found and
given to her.
3. The Turkish Cypriot so-called minister of finance admits that the negative provisions of the Annan Plan on the issue
of the properties gave the Turkish Cypriots the incentive to built on Greek Cypriot properties
Turkish Cypriot daily KIBRISLI newspaper (20.08.04) reports that the so-called minister of finance of the occupation regime,
Ahmet Uzun has admitted that the Annan Plan gave the Turkish Cypriots the incentive to built on occupied Greek Cypriot
properties which they illegally posses since the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus.
Asked to comment on the sudden boom in the constructions sector in the occupied areas of Cyprus Mr Uzun said, inter alia, the
following:
“Even the smell of the solution had the influence of a doping to the economy. The economy, acquired dynamism for
development within its closed structure, even if it is isolated from the world markets. …Now the Greek Cypriots want us to stop
this dynamism for development we have. No way! We will not impose embargo on ourselves.
The Annan Plan has directly influenced this phenomenon. The increase of the hopes for a solution, the chance to be united with
the world markets and the end of the uncertainty on the issue of the properties flourished the constructions sector. In the past
the citizens who possessed Greek Cypriot property were thinking what would happen if they invested on this property and they
were concerned.
These concerns have been an important factor that stopped the investments. They were removed with the universal formulas
proposed by the Annan Plan for the solution of the proprietorship problem. Everyone who possesses Greek Cypriot property
today and makes an investment on it equal to the value of the property has the priority on getting its proprietorship. …
The Greek Cypriots have not abandoned their plans to eliminate the bi-zonality by moving population. The development and
getting the ownership of Greek Cypriot properties make impossible for the Greek Cypriots to realize these plans and contributes
to the solution by strengthening the bi-zonality. In this sense, this process which began with the great influence of the Annan
Plan, which after the Peace Operation (Translator’s note: Mr Uzun means the 1974 Turkish invasion and occupation of Cyprus)
had the biggest contribution in strengthening the bi-zonality. …”.
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