PORT FOR A PORT IS THE SOLUTION IN CYPRUS

The third meeting of the Financial Cooperation Coordination Board which was established to monitor and evaluate the general functioning of the Turkish-EU financial cooperation process, was held at the Ministry for EU Affairs under the chairmanship of Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis and with the participation of the high representatives of the Ministries which are the members of the Board. 

In his speech, Minister Bagis indicated that Turkey was one of the countries which benefited the most from the EU funds and that half of the 10 billion-Euro budget designated for the candidate and potential candidate countries for the 2012-2013 period was allocated to Turkey.

Indicating that whole amount of money should be used effectively, Bagis emphasized that 4 million euro would be used for Van, where the recent earthquake occurred. Bagis stated that 4 million euro was allocated for preventing bribery and strengthening public ethics and that nearly 40 million euro was allocated for improving border security and removing the mines at the border area.

In the meeting, general evaluations were made regarding 5 different components of the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) 2007-2013, and accreditation processes of the Ministries responsible for the execution of the Operational Programs and the financial assistance allocated under those 5 components, increasing the capacity of the application of the funds for 2011-2012 and the strategic steps to be taken were discussed in detail.“Port in return for port, keep going on” said the Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis with regard to the Taiwan model which he proposed as a solution for the Cyprus issue. 

Bagis made contacts in Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic and answered the questions of the press. He said:

“If the EU member states start direct trade with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the planes of Lufthansa, Air France and British Airways start to land regularly at Ercan Airport, this should not be considered as a diplomatic recognition but as a commercial relation. Turkey stated clearly: ‘Port in Return for Port, Keep Going On.’ If they send their commercial vessels and planes to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, we can open our ports to the Greek Cypriots for commercial purposes.”

Within the framework of his contacts in Prague, Bagis also met Karel Schwarzenberg, the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic; Vojtěch Belling, the State Secretary for the EU in the Office of the Government; Ludwig Sefzig, the chairman of the Committee of the EU Affairs in Czech Senate and Jan Bauer, the chairman of the EU Committee of the Representatives Assembly. Bagis also made a speech at the panel discussion titled “Difficulties in Turkey’s EU Accession Negotiations – Future Prospects.