The Common Vision

Matthew Bryza, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs will be paying a visit to Cyprus in the coming weeks. The U.S. official will be bearing a message and that is ... Turkey's membership process will not be slowed down because of Cyprus. His arrival to the region at this time is no surprise. He will be promoting Turkey’s “new” action plan. The government of RoC has already rejected the Turkish offer, describing it as reheated food ... which it is, but the plan is skillfully packaged, widely advertised and sold as fresh delicacy by Ankara. Mr. Bryza and the secessionist statelet in the North share a common vision over direct trade, and it appears Mr. Bryza was promoting Turkey’s new action plan before Turkey announced that it had a new action plan. During Mr. Bryza’s visit, the Turkish leadership (guided by allies) may entertain a different proposal as it seeks to corner the government of RoC and portray it as being intransigent. There are 36 chapters that will be negotiated with Turkey during its EU process. Any EU member can veto any of 36 different chapters of negotiations. It is believed that Cyprus will not be able to use its right to veto a relevant chapter if Turkey is being seen as doing something on the Cypriot issue, even if that something is meaningless. That is why i expect more superficial proposals to come out of Ankara.