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Submitted by: Mark Smalls

The European Union has, in a draft report, called on Turkey to begin diplomacy with the Republic of Cyprus and the leadership of Demetris Christofias, with whom it has not engaged with discourse since the events of the early 1960 s, and whom Ankara has never officially recognised.

The report, quoted in the Cyprus Observer said that Recalling its conclusions of 10 December 2007, the Council notes with regret that Turkey has not yet fulfilled its obligation of full non-discriminatory implementation of the Additional Protocol to the Association Agreement and has not made progress towards normalisation of its relations with the Republic of Cyprus . The Council will continue to closely follow and scrutinise progress made on the issues covered by the declaration of the European Community and its Member States of 21 September 2005, in accordance with its conclusions of 11 December 2006. Progress is now urgently awaited.

Because the Republic of Cyprus is now a fully fledged EU member, the Union cannot directly dictate the negotiations that have been going on between Christofias and Talat since September of this year. Rather, it is the UN that is mediating the talks, and its success in the matter is of great importance for the perceived relevance and power in a corner of the world that is increasingly important to the organisation s mission moving forward into the future.

As emphasised by the Negotiating Framework, the Council also expects Turkey to actively support the ongoing negotiations aimed at a fair, comprehensive and viable settlement of the Cyprus problem within the UN framework, in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and in line with the principles on which the Union is founded, including concrete steps to help bring about a climate favourable to such a comprehensive settlement.

Turkey s importance to the ongoing diplomacy between the Republic of Cyprus s Demetris Christofias and his North Cypriot partner Mehmet Ali Talat is justifiably the focus of much attention from both the EU and the UN. The development of Turkey in relation to the demands that have been placed on it from the expectations of the EU whom it may one day join, and the UN whom take a very special interest in the importance of Turkey s geographical location, has been praised in the passed with for example the TESEV announcing that the country has managed to liquidate a very large part of the semi-authoritarian legacy that was brought into the country with the coup that occurred in the early 1980 s.

Equally, when discussing Turkey s interaction with the ongoing push toward reunification it is important to take into account the fact that during the 2004 UN brokered Annan Plan which was at the time viewed by many commentators as the best chance for this tiny country to end years of stalemate that Turkey did encourage the Turkish Cypriot north to vote in favour of the plan. This encouragement was registered and proved effective, with the North of Cyprus accepting the plan by referendum and the Republic of Cyprus, under the guidance of the recently deceased Tassos Papadopoulos, reject the plan by a large majority.

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