Turkey-Greece : First Time in 30 Years

The meeting to begin today first with the foreign ministers of the two countries, will turn into a historical summit on March 29 when the prime ministers attend.

The foreign ministers of Turkey and Greece had attended talks in Geneva on 25 July 1974, along with Britain, after Turkey's first intervention to Cyprus.

Turkish Cypriot President Rauf Denktas is not present in the talks and TRNC is being represented by PM Mehmet Ali Talat and Deputy PM Serdar Denktas.

The Greek Cypriot side is represented by Tasos Papadopulous, The meeting will turn into a real summit with the attendance of Prime Ministers Tayyip Erdogan and Kostas Karamanlis and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on March 29.

Turkish and Greek Foreign Ministers Gul and Moliviatis will attend talks today, representing their countries as the guarantors over Cyprus until March 31.

The outcome of the meeting of Brussels during the EU summit, will shape the course of events of the foursome meeting. The response of the EU, to the guarantees Turkey demands to maintain the derogations, will be clarified during that meeting of EU on Thursday and Friday.

Cold winds might blow in Burgenstock if the guarantees by European Union to avoid a reversal by an agreement on Cyprus within a few years, are insufficient.

Veto Threat by Athens

Three days ahead of the Burgenstock summit, the calculations of Greek Cypriots over the post-May 1 are , caused a crisis in the EU.

Greece turned down Turkey's request to include the agreement to be drawn, into the primary law of EU; this has been an effectively veto card demonstrated by the Karamanlis government.

Upon the demand of Greece, the issue will now be taken up during the EU summit on 25 and 26 March. (YE)