26 March 2004

1. "Turkey's Ambition-Driven Reforms", its bid to join the EU has led the nation to grant Kurds greater freedoms. But some in the ethnic minority say the changes are too little, too late.

2. "Turkey's military in retreat amid controversy on spying", the powerful Turkish military is on the lookout for subversives and kooks.

3. "DEHAP accused of links to PKK", DEHAP's election fraud, efforts to get Ocalan released and HADEP past proves it has terrorist connections, says Prosecutor Ok.

4. "Turkey bullish on membership bid", Turkey will start negotiations to join the European Union this year, according to the country’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

5. "The Kurdish Cry", Baathist oppression lives on in Syria.

6. "Increasing the pressure, but not necessarily increasing reform", Syria faces calls for change, but path remains unclear.

7. "Ankara monitoring Iraqi Kurds", Ankara has warned Washington over the possibility of having an ethnic party linked with armed forces in Iraq could lead to the partition of the country.

8. "'Flexible' EU ready to accommodate Cyprus accord: Verheugen", the European Union is ready to be flexible to accommodate the terms of an agreement on Cyprus, EU enlargement commissioner Guenter Verheugen said Thursday.

1. - Los Angeles Times - "Turkey's Ambition-Driven Reforms":

Its bid to join the EU has led the nation to grant Kurds greater freedoms. But some in the ethnic minority say the changes are too little, too late.

BATMAN / 25 March 2004 / by Amberin Zaman

Until recently, the sight of a school boasting the banned Kurdish national colors of green, red and yellow would have been unthinkable.

But an aspiration to join the European Union has forced Turkey to rethink years of repression of its ethnic Kurds. For the first time, it has even permitted a school to teach Kurdish.

"My joy is indescribable," said Aydin Unesi, who runs the privately owned school, which will open April 1 and have about 200 students. "This is a dream come true."

About 13 million Kurds, a fifth of Turkey's population, have for decades remained unrecognized as an ethnic group, their language banned and their demands for autonomy brutally suppressed.

Turkey's bid to join the 15-nation European Union has been opposed by European leaders, partly because of Turkey's efforts to forcibly assimilate its Kurds.

Hoping to overcome such objections, over the last year the Turkish parliament has approved sweeping changes including laws that allow the Kurds to broadcast and teach their native tongue.

In Diyarbakir, the unofficial capital of the Kurdish provinces in southeastern Turkey, plays are being staged and conferences conducted in Kurdish dialects for the first time.

Perhaps even more surprising is that candidates from Turkey's largest pro-Kurdish party, the Democratic People's Party, or Dehap, said they have been campaigning unhindered in municipal elections set for Sunday.

"During the last elections [in 1999], hundreds of our people were beaten, tortured and arrested," said Firat Anli, a mayoral candidate. "The change is remarkable."

Yet, compared with rights guaranteed to about 4 million Iraqi Kurds under Iraq's recently approved interim constitution, the reforms offered by Turkey "seem too little, too late," said Behlul Yavuz, a local politician.

Turkey has long feared that the emergence of an autonomous Kurdish state in northern Iraq could reignite the separatist sentiment among its own Kurds.

Such concerns increased when Syrian Kurds, brandishing Kurdish flags and posters of Iraqi Kurdish leaders, clashed with Arabs at a soccer match March 12 in the northeastern Syrian town of Qamishli. At least 15 people were killed in nearly a week of violence that spread to nearby towns.

In the southern Turkish city of Adana, a Kurdish teenager was critically wounded after police fired at a crowd of youths at a New Year's celebration in March.

"The laws have changed, but the mentality of those charged with implementing them hasn't," said Sezgin Tanrikulu, a human rights lawyer who heads the Diyarbakir bar association.

Tanrikulu was among a group of lawyers who sent a letter to Turkey's justice minister protesting a directive in December by a top military official in Diyarbakir requiring local officials to report on citizens seeking to register their newborns with Kurdish names. Bans on non-Turkish names have been scrapped.

"The minister has yet to respond," Tanrikulu said.

In Batman, schoolmaster Unesi said he had to jump through bureaucratic hoops before he received final permission to open his school. First he was told that the doors to classrooms were not wide enough, then that there were not enough Turkish flags or portraits of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey.

"Just when I thought I'd got it right, I was told to build a fire escape even though we had one," he said.

Some analysts argue that a five-year unilateral cease-fire called by Kurdish rebels after the 1999 capture of their leader, Abdullah Ocalan, has led to what lawyer Tanrikulu terms "a dangerous sense of complacency" among Turkish officials.

>From his island prison off Istanbul, Ocalan has retained a tight grip over the guerrilla group known as the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party.

Responding to Ocalan's orders, the rebels have withdrawn to mountain bases in northern Iraq and set aside their demands for independence, saying cultural autonomy would satisfy them.

Unswayed by Ocalan's overtures, Turkey has been stepping up pressure on Washington to take military action against the group, which is on the State Department's list of terrorist organizations.

"Unless the [Turkish] authorities take urgent action, there is a real risk that radical [PKK] militants could break away to resume the violence on the grounds that moderation got them nowhere," said Hasim Hasimi, a Kurd and former lawmaker from Diyarbakir.

The militants may find willing recruits among thousands of unemployed Kurdish youths living in the shantytowns that have mushroomed across the region. Many were put up by about 1 million Kurds forced out of their villages in the scorched-earth campaign mounted by Turkish security forces against the PKK.

According to Bedrettin Karaboga, a local business leader, unemployment in the 10 predominantly Kurdish provinces is as high as 80%.

"So far the government has not put in a single cent here," he said.

Economic decline has led to a sharp rise in crime and prostitution throughout the religiously conservative southeastern provinces.

In Diyarbakir, officials estimate that about 10,000 street children shine shoes and peddle Kleenex.

According to local police, about 7,000 women, nearly half of them Kurds, peddle their own flesh.

Alongside investment in their region, Kurdish community leaders say, measures needed to blunt separatist sentiment include compensating displaced Kurds, accelerating their return to villages and issuing an amnesty for all PKK rebels.

"Only then can Turkey persuade its Kurdish citizens that their interests lie in remaining part of a democratic Turkey that is on its way to becoming a member of the EU," Hasimi said.

2. - The Chicago Tribune - "Turkey's military in retreat amid controversy on spying":

The powerful Turkish military is on the lookout for subversives and kooks.

ISTANBUL / 24 March 2004 / by Catherine Collins

In the wake of recent suicide attacks, the military has left few stones unturned. In a step that has sparked controversy, military officials asked local authorities to gather intelligence on potentially dangerous radicals--from ethnic minorities to magicians.

Also on the list were people suspected of having pro-European Union or pro-American tendencies. Satanists, members of high society, those who frequent Internet chat rooms, Freemasons, Ku Klux Klan members, artists and those who meditate also fell under suspicion.

Word of the spying broke in the Turkish news media recently. Military commanders were forced to confirm that they indeed asked local authorities to "gather intelligence because it was necessary to ... take effective measures against incidents that could arise."

A 12-page letter from the military ordered district governors to provide information on those who might "see themselves above national values" and "carry out separatist or subversive activities."

Turkey's military has long seen itself as the guardian of the country's secular democracy. In this role, it often is suspicious of anyone who doesn't fit the narrow definition of a loyal Turk, whether it is an EU supporter or simply an oddball.

Civil rights organizations criticized what they saw as an attempt by the military to contradict recent efforts by the civilian government to adopt democratic reforms, which include reducing the power of the armed forces.

Turkey's top general, Hilmi Ozkok, tried to stem the furor by ordering an investigation into the information gathering.

Ozkok said he had not authorized the spying but, "since I am the army's commander, this is my fault."

The disclosure comes as Turkish authorities begin to step up security in preparation for a NATO summit planned for June in Istanbul. President Bush is among the heads of states expected to attend the two-day meeting.

Concerns were raised by suicide bombings in Istanbul. In November, attacks on two synagogues, the British Consulate and the London-based HSBC bank that claimed 62 lives were blamed on a local group said to have ties to Al Qaeda. A suicide bombing March 9 that killed two people has produced no clear links to the earlier attacks.

Despite the heightened anxieties, the military's order to spy on a broad range of civilians raised worries that the generals have gone too far.

`Nothing normal about this'

"The sad thing is that instead of saying, `We're sorry, this was just an inadvertent thing,' the military has said this is a normal occurrence," said Cem Duna, a retired Turkish ambassador to the European Union. "There is nothing normal about this. It is so absurd that it is futile to criticize."

Turkey is an ardent candidate for membership in the EU, but one of the sticking points has been the influence of the generals.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party have pushed a package of reforms through parliament intended to curtail the military's role and improve the country's human-rights situation.

After years of criticizing the heavy hand of the Turkish military in political matters, the EU softened its tone this month.

A Council of Europe committee praised the effort, saying that in the past two years Turkey has "realized more reforms than in the 10 preceding years."

Referring to the military, the report said Turkey "reduced the role of the National Security Council to what it should never have stopped being, a purely consultative organ on defense and national security."

But some promoters of Turkish democracy said the spying revelations indicated there may not have been as much progress as the EU and others hoped.

Suspicion, some humor

"This has come out in the open in a comic and surreal way," said Ishak Alaton, a prominent Turkish businessman. "But it reflects the never-fading attitude of the state versus the people. The state has no trust in the people and feels that it has to contain rather than serve."

Others found a measure of humor.

"What has the army got to fear from jugglers?" said Erhan Sener, a professional juggler. "We're harmless, non-political and often vegetarians. What intelligence do they want from us--how to juggle grenades?"

3. - Turkish Dairy News - "DEHAP accused of links to PKK":

DEHAP's election fraud, efforts to get Ocalan released and HADEP past proves it has terrorist connections, says Prosecutor Ok

ANKARA / 26 March 2004

The Supreme Court of Appeals Chief Prosecutor Nuri Ok said on Thursday that The Democratic People's Party's (DEHAP) efforts to get the imprisoned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan released proved its links with the rebel organization.

Ok, defending his application for the closure of DEHAP at the Constitution Court on Thursday, noted that DEHAP had committed fraud at the November 3, 2002 general elections by claiming it had a national organization, when it didn't. He said this fraud had affected the people's will in electing their representatives to the legislative branch of the state.

He said the party had never criticized the terrorist leader Ocalan; instead it criticized the Turkish Armed Services for pursuing militants into Iraq and the continued incarceration of Ocalan.

He also noted that DEHAP was the continuation of HADEP, which had been closed before, and noted that Spain had closed the political wing of the seperatist organization ETA based on statements made by a party member and the European Commission spokesman had said, "The EU Commission cannot interfere in or comment on the domestic affairs of Spain."

Ok asked that DEHAP be closed and the party executives banned from practicing politics for five years.

4. - EUobserver - "Turkey bullish on membership bid":

BRUSSELS / 25 March 2004 / by Andrew Beatty

Turkey will start negotiations to join the European Union this year, according to the country’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

After a meeting with the European Commission on Thursday evening (25 March) Mr Erdogan confidently proclaimed: "This is an important year for us, it is the year that we will start accession negotiations".

EU members are set to decide at the end of this year whether Turkey has met the political criteria for membership and so whether it is able to start accession negotiations soon after.

Asked if the decision had already been made, EU enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen replied "if that is what the Prime Minister said, then I think it shows his confidence that his country can meet the political criteria by the end of the year".

Mr Erdogan’s confidence is likely to raise speculation that the deal is all but in the bag.

The Turkish government continues to enjoy the support of Germany for its bid, and has recently received strong backing from the UK prime minister, Tony Blair.

But the divided island of Cyprus remains a hurdle.

Although an agreement on reuniting the Turkish and Greek parts of the island remains elusive, with talks ongoing in Switzerland, many analysts believe it would be difficult to block Ankara’s bid while they continue to push for agreement.

However, Turkey will be keen to press for a deal in order to avoid a situation where Greek Cyprus, which will become an EU member in May, threatens to veto their membership bid.

5. The National Review - "The Kurdish Cry":

Baathist oppression lives on in Syria.

25 March 2004 / By Nir Boms & Erick Stakelbeck

While the anti-government riots that raged throughout the Kurdish-populated areas of Syria for much of the past week and a half appear to have subsided as of Monday, the recent unrest may prove to be the calm before the storm for Syria's Kurdish pro-democracy advocates.

On March 21, amidst banners condemning the continued repression of Kurds by Syria's ruling Baath party, some 50 protesters assembled in front of the Syrian embassy in Washington, D.C.

The embassy demonstration came as fires still burned on the outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Qamoshli, leaving Syrian president Bashar al-Assad with perhaps his worst political crisis since taking office in June 2000.

According to Kurdish sources, between 50 and 70 opponents of the Assad regime were killed and more than 200 injured by local police and the Syrian army during riots that swept through Qamoshli, Hasakah, Dirik, Amouda, and Ras el-Ein, all Kurdish-majority cities in northern Syria. In addition, as many as 1200 Kurds were reportedly detained or arrested during the uprising, although many have since been released.

The riots capped more than a week of protests that began with the detainment on March 8 of several pro-democracy advocates, as well as an American diplomat stationed at the U.S. embassy in Damascus. Syrian security officials seized the diplomat while breaking up a pro-democracy march organized by the Committees for the Defense of Democratic Liberties and Human Rights in front of the Syrian parliament building.

Although Syrian officials issued an apology to the United States for the diplomat's brief detainment, no admission of guilt appears forthcoming from the Baath party regarding the events that would soon follow.

The mayhem began on March 12 during a soccer match in Qamoshli, a city of 200,000 near Syria's northeastern border with Turkey. Fans of the visiting Fituwya club — based in the city of Dar el-Zur, near the Syrian-Iraqi border — threw stones at supporters of the hometown Al-Jihad team and chanted Baathist slogans, such as "Long live Saddam Hussein!" Al-Jihad supporters responded by chanting "Long live Barazani!" (in honor of Iraqi Kurdish Leader Massoud Barazani) and "Long live democracy!"

This exchange of angry words led to an all-out brawl between the two sides, during the course of which three young children were trampled to death inside the stadium.

The riots eventually spread from the stadium to the Qamoshli streets, where Syrian police reportedly killed at least 15 Kurds. A group of Kurds responded by taking over a government building, only to relinquish it when Syrian army troops and helicopters arrived.

The uprising soon spread from Qamoshli to the nearby city of Amuda, where protestors destroyed statues and murals of Bashar al-Assad.

The unrest also touched the Syrian capital of Damascus, albeit on a smaller scale, as a number of impromptu pro-democracy demonstrations were held by protestors as a show of solidarity with the rioters. In response, riot officers were stationed around Damascus University and in a predominantly Kurdish suburb nearby. Additionally, the Kurdish quarters of Damascus, Aleppo, and Haleb were subjected to a curfew.

The behavior of Syrian riot police led U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli on March 14 to urge Syria "to refrain from using increasingly repressive measures to ostracize a minority that has asked for a greater acceptance and integration into Syrian life."

But events only escalated following Ereli's statement, as Syria sealed off its borders with Iraq after Iraqi Kurdish fighters threatened to enter the country if the violent clashes between Syrian security forces and Syrian Kurds were not brought to an end.

Reverberations from the uprising were also felt in Europe, where 60 Kurds took over the Syrian consulate in Geneva on March 15 in what they said was an attempt to draw attention to "the massacre of Kurdish civilians being carried out by Syrian army and police forces." Just two days before, another group of Kurds had stormed the Syrian embassy in Brussels to protest the Baath party's brutal crackdown on the rioters.

The measures used by Europe's Kurds have only drawn more attention to the Syrian Baath party's ongoing human-rights abuses at a time when Assad is looking to strengthen Syria's ties with the European Union.

The Kurds comprise approximately 10 percent of the Syrian population but enjoy very limited rights in Syrian society. They are not allowed to study the Kurdish language or form political parties, and more than 150,000 of them are denied Syrian citizenship.

For the Kurds, as for many Syrians, the horrific sights and sounds that accompanied the recent riots in northern Syria were all too familiar. In 1982, Hafez Assad — the deceased father of Bashar — responded with overwhelming force to an uprising by the radical Muslim Brotherhood group in the central Syrian city of Hama.

Using special-forces units, helicopters, tanks, and heavy artillery, the Syrian army massacred anywhere between 10,000 and 20,000 men, women, and children in its efforts to root out Muslim Brotherhood influence.

Reached by cellphone last week, a Kurdish activist who was present during the Qamoshli riots drew a parallel to the carnage of Hama. "I don't know what will come next," he said. "I am afraid that no one will come to our aid. If there is no pressure from the outside, this will be a prelude to another massacre just like in 1982."

As their cousins in Iraq and Iran have done in the past when faced with persecution by totalitarian governments, the Kurds of Syria — joined by other members of the emerging Syrian opposition — are asking for the world's intervention. Time will tell if their pleas fall on deaf ears.

— Nir Boms is a fellow at the Council of Democracy and Tolerance and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Erick Stakelbeck is head writer for the Investigative Project.

6. - The Daily Star (Lebanon) - "Increasing the pressure, but not necessarily increasing reform":

Syria faces calls for change, but path remains unclear.

BEIRUT / 26 March 2004 / by Rhonda Roumani

The Iraq war is one of several forces driving a more serious debate on reform in Syria, but the pace and extent of that reform agenda has yet to emerge.

"The threat from the outside and the progressive intrusion of the Americans in the region, and the fact that the Middle East is becoming one of the highest priorities for the US and Europe, is really putting Syria in the eye of the storm," Samir al-Taqi, a researcher with the Institute for Strategic Studies at Damascus University, told The Daily Star. "This is a factor to opening up a very wide debate on the national scale within the ruling elite and the Baath Party of what is next. The necessity of reform is becoming much more urgent."

Since the invasion of Iraq, the Syrian government has faced heightened pressure to adopt democratic reforms from the US, the European Union (EU) and from a revitalized civil society movement that took off after the fall of Baghdad.

Last month, the US leaked news of its Greater Middle East Initiative - to promote democracy, free trade and development in the region - to the London-based Arab newspaper Al-Hayat. The move was followed last week by the announcement that sanctions will be imposed through the Syrian Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Act. These moves have put the international spotlight on Syria. Consequently, the ruling elite is reopening the debate on how to modernize the country.

According to some analysts, US troops on Syria's border, along with instability in Iraq and US demands on Damascus to relinquish support for Palestinian groups may hinder the development of a clear reform strategy.

"One of the effects of the US presence in Iraq is increased pressure for carrying out economic and political reforms," said Nabil Sukkar, managing director of the Syrian Consulting Bureau for Development and Investment, based in Damascus. "But the pressure may hurt the cause of reform because when you are threatened externally, you tend to close up rather than open up. It's increasing the pressure, but not necessarily increasing reform."

When Syrian President Bashar Assad took office in 2000, he promised to usher in wide-reaching reforms. For a short period after, termed the Damascus Spring, democracy forums flourished across Syria, and Assad released political prisoners. But 41-year-old emergency laws ensured a state of martial law in Syria, and a crackdown soon followed that left 10 prominent activists and MPs jailed.

In the year since the US invaded Iraq, civil rights activists have become emboldened. Opposition activists are protesting in the streets of Syria, demanding political reforms, the lifting of the emergency laws, the release of political prisoners, the right to form new political parties and full rights for Kurds. According to many of these activists, the fear that once enveloped Syrian society waned after the fall of Baghdad.

"The movement started after Baghdad's fall," said Nihad Nahas, an activist who spent 14 years in Syrian prisons. Nahas said Saddam Hussein's ouster encouraged people to challenge autocratic regimes everywhere.

And according to activists and analysts in the Syrian capital, the spotlight on Damascus has forced the government to respond with greater leniency.

"They have interrogated people and let them go," said a Damascus-based political analyst. "Things are being done in a civilized manner. There must be so much more attention on Syria because they are wary. They cannot act with full impunity because they are being watched all the time."

In building the case for the war in Iraq, US President George W. Bush promoted a vision where the fall of the Iraqi government would produce a domino effect, leading regimes across the region to democratize one after the other.

But Arab analysts and officials say the reform process has been under way in Syria for some time. In the past year, four private universities and two private banks opened. Last month Damascus also canceled emergency economic security courts, often used to try opposition businessmen. But government officials blame the US presence in the region and the conflict with Israel for preventing the abolition of the emergency laws.

"We are in a very sensitive time," said Expatriates Minister Bouthaina Shaaban, a former spokeswoman for the government. "But it doesn't mean things cannot be discussed or cannot be under consideration in a very responsible way, a way that puts the safety and unity of the country atop the agenda."

A debate on how to reform the government is taking place within the Baath Party, which has dominated the Syrian political scene since its inception in 1963. According to Syrian-based analysts, a committee was recently established to look at how to reform the party. Late last year questionnaires were mailed to hundreds of party members to gauge their views on ideology and political change. The responses are supposed to shape a national dialogue set to take place in the coming year on reform and the future role of the party.

"The need for reform did not come as a sudden shock," said Taqi. "It came very gradually, from indigenous factors. It has been on the minds of everybody. But a system of interests and the people who have those interests are the main obstacle.

"That is why the debate is going on gradually. But the occupation of Iraq made it more critical to show the intentions of different governments, including Syria."

According to several academics, analysts and Western and Arab diplomats, who met with top Syrian officials recently, there is a wide range of views on how to reform Damascus; however, no cohesive policies have emerged.

"Reforms are slow," said one diplomat. "They are talking about internal ideological change. They say there is a process in place in the party.

"We'll see. It's hard to say what is going to come out of it. It all seems paralyzed in decision-making."

Instability in the region and US-Syrian tensions have also threatened to isolate Syria, and it remains one of the main symbols of resistance to US efforts in the region. Syria has tried to insulate itself by improving ties with neighboring countries. In January Assad made a historic trip to Turkey. Syria has resumed trade with Iraq, which stopped shortly after the war, and improved its diplomatic relations with Egypt.

"They get the feeling that Americans want them to stop being Syrian - to have to give up a pro-Palestinian stance," said the Damascus-based analyst. "They have to give up all their positions. Of course, it doesn't help those who want to reform."

Spillover from the Kurdish attempts at achieving sovereignty in Iraq has also led to riots among Syria's Kurdish population in the north of the country, beginning in the city of Qameshli. Around 30 Kurds were killed and hundreds arrested during recent unrest. Even activists who are pushing for radical political change from above believe that the instability in nearby Iraq could work against their cause.

Yassin Haj Saleh, an activist who spent 15 years in Syrian prisons, believes the Kurdish unrest could turn against the reform activists.

"I believe the Kurdish riots and their sequels will spur a crackdown on political dissenters after almost three years of relative lull," wrote Saleh in Beirut's An-Nahar newspaper. Saleh also wrote that the repression of opposition forces would increase, but that authorities will try to forge a legal structure to support their policies.

Late last year Syria also pushed to finalize a six-year-old EU association agreement, which many thought would offset crumbling US-Syrian relations. It fell through over an 11th-hour clause pushed through by Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and France on weapons of mass destruction.

According to one analyst, although Syria may be more isolated after the war, it could prove to be the thorn in the side of US.

"They are more isolated," he said, speaking of Syria's post-war position. "But they cannot be ignored. They are flying the flag of certain ideals that other Arab countries no longer hold ... They remind Arabs of how they failed with the Palestinians. They're like the obnoxious country that brings up all the issues - one can argue that is one of the reasons why the US wants to contain them."

7. - MSNBC - "Ankara monitoring Iraqi Kurds":

Ankara has warned Washington over the possibility of having an ethnic party linked with armed forces in Iraq could lead to the partition of the country.

24 March 2004

Turkish authorities are closely following negotiations between the US and the Kurdish groups based in northern Iraq over the formation of the new Iraqi Army.

Ankara is concerned that a number of Northern Iraqi Kurds may be given senior positions in the newly formed Iraqi defence forces.

“It would not be a surprise if Kurdish figures take positions at senior a level in the army,” diplomatic sources in the Turkish capital said.

According to other information received by Turkish authorities show that the Kurdish groups are strongly opposed to the disbanding of their armed forces, called the peshmerges.

Turkey is also concerned over the position of the Turkomens, the ethnic Turkic community in Northern Iraq, living in regions controlled by the peshmerges.

The head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Massod Barzani is reported to have called for peshmerge leaders to be appointed to the senior level of command of the regular army.

However, US officials have denied that any deals have been struck as yet.

8. - AFP - "'Flexible' EU ready to accommodate Cyprus accord: Verheugen":

BRUSSELS / 25 March 2004

The European Union is ready to be flexible to accommodate the terms of an agreement on Cyprus, EU enlargement commissioner Guenter Verheugen said Thursday.

Speaking as high-stakes talks continue in Switzerland between the divided island's rival communities, he said the EU could accept everything that did not breach the EU's fundamental values.

"The EU is prepared to accommodate the terms of the settlement in a way that gives some sufficient legal certainty for both parties," he told journalists following a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Greece, Turkey and leaders of the island's two rival communities began United Nations-sponsored talks in Switzerland on Wednesday aimed at ensuring that a reunified Cyprus enters the European Union on May 1.

But the talks got off to a rocky start amid procedural wrangling and failed to gain momentum on Thursday.

"We are prepared to accommodate everything if it does not run against the very principles on which the European Union is founded: democracy, rule of law, human rights," Verheugen said. "But it is very unlikely that this can happen."

"There is a clear commitment from the European Union and I confirm it. How (can) we do that? That has to be discussed and we will help the two parties to find a solution and certainly we can be very flexible."

Veteran Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, who is not attending the talks in Switzerland, Thursday accused the EU of backtracking on promises to guarantee the clauses of a possible Cyprus settlement.

Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots want an eventual EU deal to include "permanent" exemptions from fundamental EU laws on the free movement of people and capital. Turkish Cypriots fear being swamped by the more populous and richer Greek Cypriots.

But Greece and Greek Cypriots have made clear they will not accept "permanent" divergences from EU law.

Cyprus was divided in 1974 when Turkish troops invaded the island's north in response to an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot coup aimed at uniting it with Greece.