Will Christofias go to Istanbul

BAGIS INVITED CHRISTOFIAS TO ISTANBUL

Turkey’s EU minister and chief accession negotiator, Egemen Bağış, has unofficially invited Greek Cyprus President Demetrius Christofias to Istanbul – albeit with one condition: He must sit at the same table as his Turkish Cypriot counterpart.

Bağış told the Hürriyet Daily News yesterday that Christofias was “looking for a reason to come to Istanbul” and that he should talk to Turkish Cypriot President Derviş Eroğlu about the possibility of coming to Istanbul to watch a Europa League game between Fenerbahçe and Greek Cypriot club AEL Limassol scheduled for Nov. 8th.

“I will be happy to be the host provided that they will come together and sit at the same table,” Bağış said in a phone interview.

Fenerbahçe, which was relegated to play in the Europa League after being knocked out of the Champions League playoff round on Aug. 29, was drawn in Group C of the competition along with AEL Limasol, France’s Olympic Marseille and Germany’s Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Fenerbahçe is scheduled to travel to Greek Cyprus on Oct. 25 and the experience might be difficult when considering Turkish clubs’ earlier visits to the island.

Bağış also highlighted the possibility of protests against the Turkish club. “When Galatasaray went there, they had major troubles,” Bağış said. “The problems they faced were the result of a non-state. Maybe they should seek help from Turkish Rep. of Northern Cyprus for the Fenerbahçe game.”

Last year, Galatasaray women’s volleyball team was subjected to debris thrown from the stands during a game with Apollon Limassol, and there were similar attacks during Pınar Karşıyaka’s basketball match against APOEL.

The minister made assurances that the Greek Cypriot team would not face such troubles in the game in Istanbul. “They should not be worried, they will be hosted in Istanbul in the best way possible,” Bağış said. “I personally guarantee that there will not be any problem.”

BAGIS: “IF THE GREEK CYPRIOT EU TERM PRESIDENCY REPRESENTED THE WHOLE ISLAND WE WOULD BE HAPPY TO BE IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM”

Turkish EU Minister and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagıs has stated: “if the Greek Cypriot EU Term Presidency represented the whole island we would be happy to be in a relationship with them. However they only represent part of the island. The Annan Plan which envisaged uniting the island with a confederation was refused by the Greek Cypriots in April 2004 while it was approved by the Turkish Cypriots with a great majority.”

“The EU Summit decided unanimously to end the isolation of North Cyprus Greek Cypriot administration is the only EU member country among the 27 who has trade relationship with North Cyprus. However by preventing the application of this decision they don’t allow the other countries to establish any trade relationship with North Cyprus. This is a contradiction.