I have read your article titled "Stop Denktash obstruction, says Greek Cypriot foreign minister" by David Cronin based on an interview with Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister George Iacovou (European Voice.com 10 April 2003).

It is obvious from the article that Mr. Iacovou’s interview is full of blame (Denktash obstruction), advice about what others should or should not do (Ankara should be doing more to rein in Rauf Denktash) and misinformation (Denktash offers no discussion for a political settlement).

Let me first stress that there is no chance of contributing to a peaceful and negotiated settlement by blaming, or by merely operating at the level of symptoms of the protracted Cyprus conflict. It is time to go deeper and to better understand the root causes of the conflict, and why negotiation processes are repeatedly failing to yield a mutually acceptable result. The root cause of the Cyprus conflict is the deprival, since 1963, of the Turkish Cypriot partner in the 1960 partnership Republic of Cyprus of its equal status and standing in that Republic. Since then, the Greek Cypriot partner has been using the name of the partnership Republic of Cyprus to act on behalf of the whole island without the consent of the Turkish Cypriot side. The Greek Cypriot partner has since been imposing inhuman restrictions and conditions on the right of Turkish Cypriots to freely trade, travel, develop their economy, or even to engage in overseas sporting and cultural activities. At the height of the Cold War the international community tolerated this illegality of the Greek Cypriot partner because the Greek Cypriot side then threatened to turn the island into the Cuba of the Mediterranean. The Cold War has long ended but the Greek Cypriot illegality is continuing. This illegality reached a new climax in 1995 when the EU accepted the unilateral EU membership application of the Greek Cypriot side and empowered it to act as the sole interlocutor for the whole of Cyprus. This decision of the EU delivered a deadly blow to the basis and principles on which the two sides had earlier agreed to settle the Cyprus issue - the principles of bi-communality, political equality and bi-zonality. We cannot now overlook the fact that the circumstances which have been allowed to emerge since 1963 do not provide a conducive environment and a level playing field in which the two constituent parties have matching power to negotiate a new equal partnership, fully respecting the agreed principle of bi-zonality.

In his last two letters to the Greek Cypriot leader, President Denktaş has confirmed that the Turkish Cypriot side continues to support the good offices mission of the Secretary-General. In this spirit, and in view of the socio-psychological dimension of the Cyprus issue, President Denktaş has proposed the adoption of a two-track approach on the basis of which the two sides will agree on and implement measures in order to address the deep crisis of confidence between them, "while giving a new impetus to the efforts targeting a comprehensive settlement".

It is high time that the two sides in Cyprus, as well as the UN, shift their attention from blaming and devising "quick-fixes" and concentrate their efforts on how the conflict in Cyprus could be transformed from confrontation to cooperation and how, through an evolutionary process, the two sides can deal with the existing asymmetry of power with the objective of establishing a new equal partnership state between the two of them.

Yours sincerely

M. Ergün Olgun
Under-Secretary