[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 48 (Tuesday, March 25, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H2294-H2295]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CYPRUS PEACE SETTLEMENT
(Mr. BEREUTER asked and was given permission to address the House for
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks and include therein
extraneous material.)
Mr. BEREUTER. Madam Speaker, last November U.N. Secretary General
Kofi Annan proposed a comprehensive framework for a just and lasting
settlement of the Cyprus problem. He then asked the Greek and Turkish
Cypriot leaders to accept the plan by February 28. Because of the
forthcoming EU membership for at least the Greek portion of Cyprus and
other factors of leverage, this was the best opportunity in decades for
a solution to the Cyprus problem.
When neither side could resolve their problems by the end of
February, the Secretary General asked the two leaders to meet in The
Hague on March 10 to sign an agreement to put the framework to
simultaneous referenda on the island.
Two weeks ago, we learned with great disappointment that the
Secretary General was told by Turkish Cypriot leader Denktash that he
could not accept the settlement plan and would not agree to the
referenda despite the fact that informal polling indicated that the
majority of the Turkish Cypriots were prepared to support the plan.
Madam Speaker, this Member urges the Greek and Turkish Cypriots to
quickly resume negotiations to resolve this problem, to seize this rare
opportunity for a peaceful settlement and urge the United Nations and
the Bush administration to redouble their efforts to get the talks
going once again, and to seek a Cyprus solution which at long last
seems to be within our grasp.
Madam Speaker, it was highly regrettable, to this Member, that Mr.
Denktash refused to let the Turkish Cypriot people have the opportunity
to determine their own future on an agreement which would have reunited
the island and which would have served the best interests of the
Turkish Cypriot community. This Member was also disappointed with the
government of Turkey for their apparent unwillingness to exert
influence on Mr. Denktash to agree to the plan at such a critical time.
Attached is a recent editorial from The Economist on this subject.
[From the Economist, Mar. 13, 2003]
Settling Cyprus--What a Waste
the collapse of talks to reunite the island marks a stupidly missed
opportunity
Over the years it has been hard to apportion blame for the
failure of the divided island's Greek and Turkish leaders to
strike a deal to give their people security and prosperity in
a loosely federal but reunited Cyprus. Recently, under the
blandishments of
[[Page H2295]]
the United Nations and the European Union, they had come
within finger-touching distance of a settlement. All the
sadder, then, that this week the Turkish-Cypriots' truculent
leader, Rauf Denktash, rejected the UN's sensible proposals
for a deal. The government in mainland Turkey must also share
blame by failing to bludgeon Mr. Denktash into accepting the
plan. A further gloomy outcome is that, while the island's
Greek-run part will almost certainly join the EU on its own
next year and the Turkish part will fester in isolation and
poverty, mainland Turkey's own hopes of starting negotiations
to join the Union have been dented too.
Both of the island's communities had a lot to gain. The
Turks would have given back control of around 8% of the
island's territory to the Greeks--a substantial chunk of the
land taken in 1974 when the Turkish army intervened after a
short-lived Greek-Cypriot coup on the island. The Turks, 18%
of the population before the invasion, have since held 37% of
the land. The Greek-Cypriots' new president, Tassos
Papadopoulos, at first complained that the latest UN
compromise did not adequately address his people's
grievances. But he wisely accepted it. This time it is
overwhelmingly Mr. Denktash's fault that a settlement has
been blocked.
Indeed, the Turks had even more to gain than the Greeks.
They would have kept a vast amount of autonomy in their still
disproportionately large zone. They would have enjoyed an
influx of EU cash had the whole island been joining the Union
next year, not to mention the rapid lifting of sanctions long
imposed by the EU against their breakaway statelet.
The Turkish government may have been too preoccupied by the
political wrangling and tortuous diplomacy over Iraq (see
article). Many of Turkey's still-too-influential generals see
the Turkish-run bit of Cyprus as a strategic asset, while
some Turkish politicians regard the island as a bargaining
chip in Turkey's quest to join the EU. They are wrong.
Turkey's failure to persuade Mr. Denktash to say yes to
compromise will make it much harder for the EU to smile on
its application, due for consideration at the end of next
year, to start negotiations to join. Many governments are
already queasy about the idea of Turkey as a fellow Euro-club
member.
what next?
The UN's secretary-general, Kofi Annan, had suggested a
ruse to force Mr. Denktash's hand and to strengthen that of
the Greek-Cypriots' leader by holding a referendum on the
proposals next month--on both sides of the island. Both
communities would probably have said yes. But Mr. Denktash
wrecked that idea too. If stalemate prevails, as seems
likely, Mr. Annan says he will abandon all further efforts to
settle Cyprus during his time as UN boss. It would then be up
to the EU to reopen proceedings. By the end of this year the
Turkish-Cypriots are due for a general election. Mr.
Denktash's opponents on his own side of the island, who
approved of Mr. Annan's plan, may well take power in
parliament but the presidential term has a few years yet to
run. One day, perhaps mercifully soon, the ailing Mr.
Denktash will go. Then, maybe, a fair deal can at last be
done. But a golden chance has been stupidly wasted.
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