PROVOCATION - Turkey: “There is No Cyprus”

(Photo credit: e r j k p r u n c z y k)

We warned our readers on Thursday that because of Turkey's domestic issues, Ankara will begin exporting its crisis to either the Aegean and/or Cyprus. We were spot on. In a play to wiggle its tail out of its responsibilities for the vast numbers of illegal immigrants coming into Europe from Turkey, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs made yet another provocative statement against the divided island of Cyprus, sparking a strong reaction from Nicosia, by once again claiming that “there is no Cyprus”.

The statement was made on the occasion of the signing of an EU agreement concerning the readmission of illegal immigrants. Ankara is obligated to conform with this this decision without any exceptions, however a letter from the Turkish government to the European Commission stated that the country will not conform to the agreement in the Republic of Cyprus because it does not recognize it.

Commenting on this latest provocation, the President of EDEK Yiannakis Omirou said in Paphos on Thursday that Turkey's stance on this issue is not only intolerable to Cyprus, but also to the EU as well as all other European institutions. He added said that the Union and the Commission need to intensify their pressure towards Turkey so that it can conform to this agreement, while he also called on the government to react quickly and decisively to Turkey’s provocation.

Mr. Omirou said that any tolerance of Turkey’s behavior that grossly offends the EU would amount to complicity and added that it is time for Cyprus to claim all its rights as an EU Member State.

In other related news, the Anastasiades government is determined to resolve the Cyprus issue one way or another and this is intensifying suspicion amongst Cyprus citizens that something else is in the works for their country. In fact they believe that they may soon be faced with another dubious “Annan plan” type of solution.

(They are right to be suspicious... HellasFrappe warned Cypriots about this months ago when they voted for Anastasiades, and we stressed why it was important to ignore the Memorandum of shame with the EU. Unfortunately we were ignored.)