Cyprus peace efforts hit early snags

TONY BARBER

Europe Editor

Fresh efforts by the European Union and the United States to solve the Cyprus problem appear to be running into difficulty even before they have got properly under way.

Turkish officials expressed suspicion this week of an EU initiative for the island, divided between Greeks and Turks since 1974, while officials in Greece have sounded less than enthusiastic about a US diplomatic effort to be led by Richard Holbrooke, the man who helped to broker last year's peace settlement in Bosnia.

Turkish troops invaded the island in July 1974 after Greek Cypriot supporters of union with Greece staged a coup with the support of Greece's then ruling military junta. The Turkish Cypriots declared a separate state in 1983.

Now the Europeans want progress on the Cyprus question because they have promised to open talks on full EU membership with the island's internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government. These negotiations are due to start within six months of the end of the EU's inter-governmental conference on internal reforms, which will open in March and is expected to be wrapped up by the summer of 1997.

Given this time pressure, the Italian government, which holds the rotating EU presidency, is expected soon to announce the appointment of a political co-ordinator to spearhead the EU effort on Cyprus. A junior Italian foreign minister, Emanuele Scammacca, is visiting Cyprus, Greece and Turkey this week to prepare the way for the EU initiative.

Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots, whose self-proclaimed state in northern Cyprus is recognised by no government except that in Ankara, are unhappy that the EU is pressing ahead with moves to admit Cyprus before a political solution to the island's division has been reached.

A Turkish foreign ministry spokesman, Omer Akbel, said on Wednesday that there was no need for an independent EU initiative on Cyprus, because the United Nations was already working on a diplomatic solution.

As for Mr Holbrooke, whose reputation as a problem-solver was enhanced by his efforts in Bosnia, he is supposed to visit Cyprus in late January for talks with the Greek and Turkish communities.

He vowed last month that 1996 would be "the year of the big push on Cyprus", but at the same time he has indicated that he wants to retire this year from his job as the US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs.

That raises the question of whether he will leave himself enough time to put together a solid set of proposals for ending a dispute that has defied all efforts at mediation for more than 20 years.

Greece's lukewarm response to Mr Holbrooke's mission reflects the belief that the US attaches such importance to its alliance with Turkey that it has tended to tolerate the Turkish military presence in northern Cyprus.