November 16, 2001	Friday	Shaba'an 29, 1422

ANKARA, Nov 15: Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said on Thursday international pressure for reunification of Cyprus could pitch the Mediterranean island into ethnic violence.

Ecevit raised the prospect of Greek Cypriots launching “raids” and invading Turkish Cypriot houses in the north if the strict territorial separation of the two communities established after Turkish army intervention in 1974 were ended.

His comments, the latest in a string of hardline statements from Ankara, highlighted the risk of crisis next year as the EU weighs admitting the internationally-recognised Greek Cypriot government over the head of the breakaway Turkish north.

But they also coincided with a declaration by northern Cyprus leader Rauf Denktash that Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides had agreed to a face-to-face meeting to help restart United Nations-sponsored talks.

Ecevit told his party deputies: “If the wishes of certain foreign circles, the EU and the UN secretary- general are agreed to and Turkish Cypriots are forced to live alongside Greek Cypriots on the island, they will be confronted with worse than the genocide that was faced before the (1974) Turkish peace operation.”—Reuters