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The
Daily Gyro February 21, 2006 The Perfect Storm for a Cyprus Solution The next few weeks are shaping up to be pivotal in the ultimate resolution of the Cyprus problem and Turkey’s potential accession into the EU… The wild card in these negotiations could be the appointment last week of Dora Bakoyiannis, the wildly popular mayor of Athens, as Greece’s new foreign minister. The next few weeks are shaping up to be pivotal in the ultimate resolution of the Cyprus problem and Turkey’s potential accession into the EU. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is scheduled to meet with Greek Cypriot President Tasos Papadopoulos in Paris on February 28th to discuss the state of affairs on the island and work towards unification. This will be the first official talks between the UN and the Greek Cypriot leadership on the subject since the Greek Cypriots overwhelmingly rejected the Annan Plan in last year’s referendum. Caught in the balance is Turkey’s EU bid, which Papadopoulos plans to veto if Turkey doesn’t get its act together when it comes to the Cyprus issue. Turkey scored points with the U.N., U.S., and EU, last month when it proposed a plan to opening Turkish ports to Greek ships and planes as a part of the customs union in exchange for lifting the embargo on the Turkish occupied part of Cyprus. The international community has been scolding the Greek Cypriots for not being as receptive to this new plan. The wild card in these negotiations could be the appointment last week of Dora Bakoyiannis, the wildly popular mayor of Athens, as Greece’s new foreign minister. It’s the first time a woman has held this position, and it doesn’t hurt that she enjoys the support of the U.S. She is seen as conciliatory toward Turkey and has stated her priorities as Cyprus and then developing Greek-Turkish relations, thankfully in that order. She was one of few Greek politicians to openly support the Annan Plan, but has yet to comment on Turkey’s latest plan. Other Servings of The Daily Gyro
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