Military

DATE=MARCH 4, 2003

TYPE=INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

TITLE=YIANNIS PAPADAKIS/ CYPRUS

NUMBER=3-566

BYLINE=REBECCA WARD

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=

/// Editors: This interview is available in Dalet under SOD/English News Now Interviews in the folder for today or yesterday ///-

HOST: Both sides of the divided island of Cyprus are set to decide later this month if the island is to be reunited. U-N Secretary-General Kofi Annan has given Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash until March 10th to reach agreement about a proposed Swiss-style federation. Last week, Mr. Annan asked the two sides to put his proposals to simultaneous referendums on March 30th. Yiannis Papadakis (YAHN-ihs Pa-pa-DAH-kihs) is an assistant professor of social anthropology at the University of Cyprus. Although the two sides have less than a week to reach a decision, Mr. Papadakis tells News Now's Rebecca Ward that the two leaders are not actually holding direct talks.

PROF. PAPADAKIS: What's happening is that only some technical committees keep on meeting; otherwise, now they have to make up their minds whether they will reply positively or negatively on the 10th of March to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, when they meet him in The Hague, whether they will hold a referendum on the 30th of March.

MS. WARD: It does sound like, from media reports, that the Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash has already made up his mind, that he does not like this referendum.

PROF. PAPADAKIS: Well, Mr. Denktash has previously spoken very negatively against this proposed plan. He called this plan a crime against humanity. He said that the people who drew up this plan have no idea at all about political sciences. So, he has clearly expressed very negative views and he doesn't seem to be inclined to go for the referendum either except if he is pressured so much by Turkey and by his own people.

MS. WARD: And do you think Turkey is inclined to agree with this referendum?

PROF. PAPADAKIS: I think that Turkey is a society with different forces, and these forces are often competing. But, gradually, Turkey seems to understand that they should try to persuade Mr. Denktash to proceed with the referendum and hopefully to become positive about the proposed plan. Because what is happening now, in effect, is that Mr.~Denktash is holding Turkey's future hostage. In other words, if, due to Mr. Denktash, the talks fail and there is no solution on Cyprus, then Turkey's entrance into the E.U. could be seriously jeopardized, especially given that the Greek Cypriots will enter into the E.U., and then they will have a say whether Turkey can enter.

MS. WARD: And the Turkish Cypriots themselves, the people that Mr. Denktash is representing, how do they feel about reunification and sharing a government?

PROF. PAPADAKIS: On the Turkish Cypriot side there has been the largest popular uprising ever in the history of the Turkish Cypriots. People have been going out in the streets in the tens of thousands and, during the last rally, there were around 70,000 to 80,000 people in the streets. The Turkish Cypriots have expressed their will very clearly and very strongly that they are pro-solution and pro-entry into the E.U. and very much against their current leader, who many people now say does not represent them at all. And in fact, this is the biggest reason why the U.N. has taken this course of action -- in other words, to try to put this plan to a referendum.

MS. WARD: And what are the major aspects of the plan, and what is it that Mr. Denktash is opposed to?

PROF. PAPADAKIS: Mr. Denktash seems to want, in effect, two different states. Whereas the plan is describing a federal-type polity, Mr. Denktash seems to want full autonomy, and he is also opposing the fact that maybe 40,000 Turkish Cypriots will be displaced. According to the plan, a large percentage of the Greek Cypriot refugees of 1974, more than half of them, around 90,000 people, will be able to go back under Greek Cypriot administration. This means that some Turkish Cypriots will be displaced, and we're talking about 40,000 Turkish Cypriots now who may be displaced. This, of course, will be gradual until new settlements are built for them. Plus, of course, this plan now has much more effective military guarantees, both by Greece and Turkey. And, of course, it's going to have a very significant U.N. force -- let's say, a U.N. force with teeth. In other words, a U.N. force that will be given a strong mandate to maintain the peace.

HOST: Yiannis Papadakis (YAHN-ihs pa-pa-DAH-kihs) is an assistant professor of social anthropology at the University of Cyprus.

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