Our goal is an early resumption of the UN process. A new, positive development that could cast new light on this seemingly intractable problem is the imminent accession of Cyprus to the European Union by 2004. With the right support, the EU can serve as a catalyst for resolving the illegal occupation of the northern end of the island Republic. Turkey must understand that its own aspirations to join the EU cannot be realized without an end to the division of Cyprus, forcibly imposed and sustained by its military. Turkey and Europe on a Collision Course Earlier in March, the Turkish government submitted to the EU a National Programme for economic, political and judicial reforms to meet the requirements for its candidacy.
Turkish policy is unfortunately on a collision course with Europe.
Turkey continues to push obstinately for recognition of the illegal entity set up in the Turkish occupied area of Cyprus. The Government of Cyprus has been cooperating with the UN and has gone so far as to invite of representatives of the Turkish Cypriot community to join the Cypriot delegation responsible for negotiating their accession to the EU, which the Turkish side has rejected. For more than a quarter century, nearly 40 percent of the sovereign territory of the Republic of Cyprus has been illegally occupied and ethnically cleansed by Turkey's military. As a result, Cyprus and its people have remained tragically divided and suffer political, economic, and social consequences of the division. The U.S. has never accepted the illegal occupation on Cypriot sovereign territory or the fiction of a Turkish Cypriot entity imposed by Turkey's military, recognized by no country in the world, except Turkey.