TURKEY: The leader of Turkey's ruling party, Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has departed from Ankara's policy for decades on Cyprus by calling for the reunification of the island.
"I'm not in favour of the continuation of the policy that has been maintained in Cyprus over the past 30-40 years," he told a television station.
Mr Erdogan, the head of the liberal Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP), also made it clear that the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr Rauf Denktash, would not be permitted to block progress in negotiations with the Greek Cypriots on a UN plan for the creation of a federation of two communal cantons linked by a weak central administration.
The UN has given the sides until February 28th to reach an accord so that the Turkish Cypriot north can enter the EU in 2004 with the Greek Cypriot south.
Mr Erdogan said the AKP government would do its utmost to meet this deadline. "We will do whatever falls on us. This is not Mr Denktash's private matter, it is a national struggle for existence."
Mr Denktash has threatened to step down if the government presses him to sign a deal he considers unacceptable.
This was Mr Erdogan's second warning to Mr Denktash since 30,000 Turkish Cypriots, half the adults of the community, staged an unprecedented protest against his policies. The demonstrators called for acceptance of the UN plan, EU membership and Mr Denktash's resignation.
Commenting on this gathering, Mr Erdogan stated: "This is not an ordinary event. You can't brush aside the views of the public. A decision should be taken with the largest public participation and should be implemented."
Since Mr Erdogan is expected to win a seat in parliament in a by-election next month, he is likely to take over as prime minister from his deputy, Mr Abdullah Gul.
The positive stance adopted by the new Turkish government has prompted the Cyprus President, Mr Glafkos Clerides, to consider standing for re-election in a February 16th poll. While he said yesterday that he has not yet decided, it seems likely that he will go for a third term.
He said it would be "unwise . . . to walk out and give the matter to someone else" while negotiations were in progress.
Although there has been criticism of certain provisions of the plan in the south, the percentage of Greek Cypriots supporting it rose sharply following the Turkish Cypriot demonstration, which was seen as a show of good will and readiness for reconciliation.
Old guard Turkish politicians regard Mr Erdogan's stance as a betrayal of the policy of "taksim", partition and Turkish Cypriot statehood, adopted by Turkey and Mr Denktash during the island's struggle from independence from Britain. After Turkey occupied the northern 37 per cent of the island in 1974 and created a separate administration, the slogan adopted by the old guard and the army was "the status quo is the solution".
