For some time I have been wondering about the seemingly good news that keeps coming out of Northern Cyprus. Invitations to meet Spanish government officials in Spain; an invitation to a meeting with Hilary Clinton in Washington on 30th March; Direct Trade to the TRNC being introduced by the EU Parliament.
The interesting bit about the Clinton visit [1] released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Public Relations Office was the addendum, “he has not decided whether to attend or not.” Perhaps I’ve lost the plot a little and it is quite normal for Talat to reject meetings with people like Clinton. The world is probably knocking at his door at the moment and he has far too many invitations to deal with.
Since the release of this information there has been much speculation on many of the bulletin boards relating to North Cyprus, but nothing anywhere else. My email to the State Department in Washington was answered very non-committally with a “General response” email, quote:
” Recently you requested personal assistance from our on-line support center. Below is a summary of your request and our response. If this issue is not resolved to your satisfaction, you may reopen it within the next 7 days.
Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you.
Subject: Proposed Meeting with the President of TRNC
Discussion Thread:
Response (Support Agent) – 03/17/2010 11:06 AM
Thank you for your message to Secretary Clinton sharing your thoughts and concerns. We value your opinion and will take it — and the views of all Americans — into consideration.
Secretary Clinton is committed to strengthening America’s national security, advancing the interest of the United States, and restoring America’s leadership position in the world.
Thank you for contacting the U.S. Department of State.
Question Reference #100308-000040
Category Level 1: U.S. Foreign Policy
Category Level 2: Middle East
Date Created: 03/08/2010 05:25 AM
Very general. Neither confirming a meeting nor denying an invitation or saying anything at all.
OK. I’m not satisfied, so I dig deeper. The website of Hilary Clinton’s diary appointments for the 30th March 2010 shows that she is in Canada for a G8 Meeting. This has been scheduled for months. G8 Summits don’t just happen out of the blue. So, where does this leave the invitation story? An email to the TRNC Ministry of Foreign Affairs Public Relations Office has gone as yet unanswered. (Why am I not surprised?)
On top of this was the invitation to meet Spanish government officials [2], little was made of that in the press. It was as if it never happened. Then finally there is the matter 0f Direct Trade:
“DIRECT TRADE REGULATION AGAIN ON THE AGENDA OF THE EU
The European Union has launched a new initiative to re-table the EU Direct trade regulation for the TRNC following the endorsement of the Lisbon treaty.
The European Parliament has appointed a Rapporteur for the Direct Trade regulation, prepared on the 26th of April 2004 following the referendum on the Annan Plan.
According to the Lisbon Treaty, the Greek Cypriot Side will no longer be able to veto the coming into force of the Direct Trade regulation intended to ease the international isolation of the Turkish Cypriots.
Within the framework of the initiative, the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee appointed Italian Liberal Democrat Niccolo Rinaldi to prepare a report on the regulation.
Debates on the regulation will be held at the meeting of the committee scheduled to take place in Strasbourg on the 19th of April. If approved by the European Parliament.”
Despite being part of a front page Cyprus Today article (31/3/2010) this last information has disappeared from the www.trncinfo.com website but can be found by searching Google for “the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee appointed Italian Liberal Democrat Niccolo Rinaldi to prepare a report on the regulation.”
All very mysterious.
Sources:
[1] Clinton Visit
[2] Meeting with Spanish officials
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