Posted on 01/16/2005 7:01:39 AM PST by Tailgunner Joe
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants the United Nations (UN) to take action for solution of the Cyprus issue and will take the first crucial step in Davos.
Erdogan will attend the World Economic Forum between January 26th and 30th and will ask the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan for restart of a good will mission to open the way to a solution. Sources close to Erdogan say he will ask for a plan incorporating a solution, whether it is a reactivation of the former plan or a new one. The Prime Minister will insist on starting the process before October 3rd 2005, the date when the negotiations between Turkey and the European Union (EU) will begin.
Encouraged by Russian support for Turkey on the Cyprus issue, Ankara is hopeful for a solution. The first process, which evolved around the Annan Plan in Cyprus and resulted in a referendum on April 24, 2004, was initiated with the Erdogan-Annan talks at the Davos meetings last year. Now, Turkey wants to solve the Cyprus issue before starting the negotiations with the EU on October 3, or face serious problems.
Annan, who was invited to the December 17th EU summit unexpectedly, has indicated that he is keen to broker a solution for Cyprus. The support from Russian President Vladimir Putin during Erdogan's Moscow visit last week have led Turkey to become more hopeful as Russia is a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Erdogan had indicated in an announcement he made when he returned from Moscow he would again have talks with Annan, but they were postponed because of Annan's visit to the regions in South Asia hit by the earthquake and tsunami on December 26.
This year's Davos meeting, where both Anann and Erdogan will attend, seems as the most appropriate ground for a step to be taken for a solution. Erdogan will re-express to Annan his view "Having no solution is not the solution in Cyprus. The Turkish side has done whatever it could, but the isolation is still continuing despite this."
Good luck. Kofi and the UN aren't known for their solution-finding acumen - only for their scamming, skimming, ducking, dodging, finger-pointing, anti-Israel and anti-American stance on everything.
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