NETHERLANDS/TURKEY/CYPRUS: DUTCH CONSIDER ENGAGING

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 000239

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/03/2011
TAGS: PGOV PREL CY GR TU NL
SUBJECT: NETHERLANDS/TURKEY/CYPRUS: DUTCH CONSIDER ENGAGING

REF: A) STATE 16987 B) BRUSSELS 351

Classified By: CDA Chat Blakeman; reasons 1.4 (c).


1. (C) Summary: MFA working level contacts responded
positively to ref A demarche on February 2, and support the
concept of using the Turkish proposal to restart final
settlement talks. Obstacles within the EU, however,
including perceived reluctance of the Austrian presidency,
the ability of the Greek Cypriots to keep final settlement
off the EU agenda, and perceptions the Turks are trying to
renegotiate the Additional Protocol, will make progress
difficult. While the working level contacts favored a more
active Dutch approach, this has not been approved by higher
levels; post will continue to follow up. End Summary.


2. (SBU) Poloff delivered ref A demarche on February 2 to
Koos Dijkstra (MFA Senior Policy Advisor, Department of
European Integration External Policy.) and Cyprus desk
officer Mara van der Poel. Dijkstra was working on a
position recommendation for the MFA regarding the Turkish
proposals and emphasized that no official Dutch position yet
existed.


3. (C) Van der Poel and Dijkstra said that the Republic of
Cyprus (ROC) was doing everything it could to obstruct
movement toward a final settlement. In this, they said, the
Cypriots were aided by an Austrian presidency that had no
wish to further the cause of Turkish accession. (Comment:
This is not the reading in Brussels, ref B. End comment.)
The picture was complicated by the perception among some EU
member states, as well as some political constituencies
within The Netherlands, that the Turks were renegotiating the
Ankara protocol. Dijkstra stressed that these constituencies
would react indignantly to any perception that the Turks were
placing demands on an EU member state.


4. (C) Dikstra and v/d Poel noted that the Turkish proposals
had been on neither the GAERC agenda nor the agenda of the
Committee on Southeastern Europe. When Poloff asked whether
The Netherlands intended to engage actively on the issue,
within the EU, Dijkstra answered that this would be his
recommendation for the Minister. Dijkstra argued that the
GONL could work through formal or informal channels. He
indicated, with a shrug of his shoulders, that his government
might ultimately choose not to force the issue.


5. (C) Dijkstra said that the GONL agreed that final
settlement properly belonged in the UN. He agreed that a
bi-zonal, bi-communal federation would certainly be the ideal
but thought that it might not be realistic to try to return
to what was. He welcomed our report that the Turkish
proposal was not a take-it-or-leave-it one. He added that,
within "the MFA" (read, at most: Western European and
European Integration branches),initial reactions to the
proposal had been positive. Dijkstra will be part of a Dutch
team heading next week to Cyprus, to look more closely at the
issue.
BLAKEMAN