Greek Cypriots Uneasy over 'NATO' Referral

Written by Administrator

Sunday, 04 December 2005

The Greek Cypriot administration is pressing demands for the removal of the footnote #5, which relates to international organizations from the Accession Partnership Document (APD). The enlargement working group could not reach an agreement on the APD at the meeting held Friday at the request of the Greek Cypriots. Negotiations are under way between term president Britain and the Greek Cyprus. The group will gather once again on Tuesday to reach an agreement over the APD as soon as possible. The footnote #5 refers to the statement that the decision-makers of each international organization are autonomous, which is appended to the Negotiation Framework Document, approved on October 3 after a series of formidable talks. This statement reserved Turkey the right to veto the membership of the Greek Cypriot administration to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), among other international institutions. Greek Cypriots demands the removal of references to this statement from the APD. Some diplomatic sources told Zaman they want to solve the APD issue with the working group in the shortest possible time instead of permitting the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) to discuss it. If an agreement is reached, the APD will expectedly be approved to vote in the COREPER and subsequently in the Council of General Works and Foreign Affairs on December 12. A large number of members do not want to have a second debate because of Cyprus, said diplomatic sources.

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