turkish-greek civic dialogue - AEGEE Europe

Kissinger, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United States at that time. After
one hour of discussion, he was accompanying Mr.Kissinger to the gate to his
car. Mr. Kissinger said to Mr. Türkmen: I have met the Greek Minister of Foreign
Affairs, now i have had a long discussion with your Minister. Now I am going to
see the Cypriot Minister and then i will go to see my psychiatrist. So whoever is
working on Cyprus for a long time needs a psychiatrist. Instead of going to my
psychiatrist, i came here to share my ideas with you. I hope at the end of the
day we won’t all go to a psychiatrist.
We are in a very crucial period in Cyprus issue, it’s a historical and crucial
period. We have to look at the matter in a realistic, in a pure way and so that
we will take optimistic steps for the future. It’s quite complicated to follow all
the discussions and all these tough bargainings on Cyprus because everybody
is saying something different on what is good or bad; negative or positive. We
lived a war in 1974 and we came to the time of peace. This is the time of peace
after 30 years to build the peace. And to build the peace we need two main
elements in peace: Compromise and mutual trust”.
KATERINA PAPAZI – (BOSPORUS) “How do the both sides in Cyprus
approach to the act of solving the problem? What is the main problem with
accepting the Annan Plan?
NUR BATUR “I have the feeling that the Greek Cypriots are still not ready
to find a compromise and i think this is the main problem over there. The Turks
and Turkish Cypriots have discussed the problem very harshly in last one and
half year; the Turkish side started to get ready for a compromise. In a peace
agreement, its not possible for only one party to gain. Both sides have to give
and both sides have to take. It is a win-win situation where without giving you
cannot take. I have the feeling that Greek Cypriot administration was confident
that they would be able to join the European Union as representing all Cyprus.
They would be able to implement a German model in the European Union; first
western Germany was the member and than eastern Germany was united. All of
a sudden Greek Cypriots realised that they have to share the power. They have
to accept that 1960 agreement which gives the opportunity to the Republic of
Cyprus to be represented all over the world is going to be abolished. They have
to accept a new form of a state: a republic in Cyprus, a new united Cyprus with
an equal participation of Greek and Turkish Cypriots in administration. There
are so many details, so many laws, 9000 pages, a lot of loopholes towards
Association des Etats Généraux des Etudiants de L’Europe
which Turkish and Greek Cypriots can be ciritical. They have to share.
On the other hand, maybe they don’t want to realise that Turkey is chancing
its policy, Turkey is accepting to withdraw 30.000 troops in three years. Turkish
Cypriots are accepting to move 50.000 people from their homes. So there is a
compromise. I have the feeling that a lot of people realise this compromise in
Greece. I heard from Greek friends and politicians also that there have been
some mistakes done by Greek Cypriots and Greek politicians in Cyprus as well,
but i hope we will overcome this issue.
METIN TURAN from AEGEE-Ankara: “I have two points that are not bright
at all. I remember French-German rapprochement also involved youth in the
form of youth activities such as common summer camps, which increased
the number of young people knowing each other. This will be another step
for Turkish-Greek Civic Dialogue. My second point is for Turkish NGOs. As
we started to understand each other, we have to deal with the fears of “the
Other”. Mr. Alemdaroğlu is a very bad example for that. I think a lot of people
here know him as quite nationalist, let’s say ultra-nationalist. He holds a very
secure position because of the constitution as the president of the university.
However Turkish NGOs have the responsibility to react to his comments and
make petitions even to the President of Turkish Republic. We have to find a way
to make him apologise of what he said, even if he is not going to resign because
of his words, his opinion. I can underwstand that he is making this comment for
Cyprus discussion, but he is making a big mistake and he has to pay for it.”
EMRAH ATEŞ “What do you think for the referendum to be held in the
“Greek side of Cyprus”? Does it have the power to change political decisions
of “Greek side”?
NUR BATUR:”In the upcoming twenty days there will be very tough
discussions in Greece and at the end of the day a they have to take a historical
decision. For the time being, it doesn’t seem that the result will be YES. A
lot of forces in Greek Cypriots are against the Annan Plan, Mr. Papadopoulos
- the president of Greek Cypriot administration himself is against. However,
the comments will definitely affect this voting result a lot. If they shift from
NO towards YES, they will find the compromise. I think the attitude of Mr.
Karamanlis will be very influential, at the moment they couldn’t show their
real approach but i believe the approach of Greek government will be towards
Final Conference
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