TURKEY: The Turkish government has asked the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, to intervene in UN-sponsored talks to re-unite Cyprus before the island joins the EU in May.
As efforts to break a deadlock in the talks continued over the weekend, the Turkish Prime Minister, Mr Tayyip Erdogan, phoned Mr Ahern to ask the Irish EU presidency to make a case to the United Nations to have an eventual deal underwritten in EU law.
Mr Ahern did not immediately commit to support or reject that position, it is understood. A Government spokesman said the Irish presidency was encouraging all sides to engage fully in the discussions and proceed on the basis of the plan advanced by the UN.
With fewer than five weeks left in a UN timetable to end the 30-year conflict with Greece, there is increasing pressure to strike a deal before the Greek Cypriot part of Cyprus joins the EU on May 1st.
Turkey has also sought assistance from the US secretary of state, Mr Colin Powell.
The deadlock has already forced the UN to revise at the last minute its deal for a united island to join the EU.
Without a deal, only the internationally recognised Greek Cypriot part will join the EU, representing the whole island.
This could cement the island's partition and harm EU membership hopes of Turkey, a NATO member and key US ally on Iraq.
Greek and Turkish negotiators are with the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, at the Swiss resort of Bürgenstock trying to agree a formula to end the partition of the island. Mr Erdogan and his Greek counterpart, Mr Costas Karamanlis, will join the discussions this evening.
The talks are deadlocked over Turkish concerns that they could be dominated by the wealthier and more populous Greek Cypriots, while Greeks resent limits on their rights to travel and own property.
Turkish Cypriots make up one-third of the island's population and control one-third of its territory.
Both negotiating teams are critical of the UN's handling of the talks. Negotiations on the plan for a Swiss-style federation have proceeded fitfully with the UN mediator, Mr Alvaro de Soto, shuttling between the two camps impatiently awaiting the fourth revision of a proposal first tabled in 1999. Both consider the mechanism for revising the UN plan slow and inefficient. The Turkish Cypriot Foreign Minister, Mr Serdar Denktash, said yesterday the UN was still trying to engage the teams on the "core issues".
He reiterated the stand taken by the Turkish Foreign Minister, Mr Abdullah Gul, that the EU must grant a united Cyprus permanent exemptions, or "derogations", on freedom of movement, residence and employment within member-states and the bloc.
The Greek Cypriots oppose and the EU is leery of permanent derogations. Mr Denktash stressed that the "outcome" of the talks must be "viable" because neither side wants to suffer more violence.
The Turkish Cypriots "are not frightened" to live with Greek Cypriots, he said, but insisted that "precautions" must be taken. He said the two communities must expand contacts and co-operation, signalling a break with his father, the veteran Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash, who holds that the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities must live separately. He refused to participate in the Bürgenstock talks and said he would urge Turkish Cypriots to vote No if their demands were not met.
Mr Serdar Denktash observed that the participation of the Greek Prime Minister, Mr Costas Karamanlis, who arrived in Bürgenstock yesterday, and Mr Erdogan, due early this morning , should give a psychological boost to the negotiating process.
Today Mr Annan is set to present his revised framework for a United Cyprus Republic. Once the delegations have this in hand, Mr Dimitris Christofias, the president of the Cyprus House of Representatives, said the teams can "begin real give and take".