Divided Cyprus: A hawkish problem

[Babur]

Divided Cyprus
A hawkish problem

Apr 23rd 2009 | ISTANBUL
From The Economist print edition
A nationalist election win in northern Cyprus dims reunification hopes




THE prospects of a united Cyprus receded when a nationalist party won the parliamentary election in the north on April 19th. The National Unity Party, led by the hawkish Dervish Eroglu, took 44% of the vote, giving it 26 of the 50 seats. The vote for the ruling Republican Turkish Party, which backs reunification, fell to 29%. This reflects voters’ disillusion over the UN-sponsored peace talks that have dragged on since Turkish troops seized the northern third of the island in 1974 after a failed attempt by ultra-nationalist Greek-Cypriots to unite with Greece.
The result will also damage Turkey’s faltering membership talks with the European Union. Turkey faces a December deadline to open air- and seaports to Greek-Cypriots. It refuses to do so until the EU eases trade restrictions on northern Cyprus. Sweden, which takes on the EU’s presidency in July, is looking for a way to avert yet another train-wreck between Turkey and the EU. One idea is for Turkey to open a symbolic port or two only (though this was also tried two years ago by the Finnish EU presidency).
Hopes of a breakthrough now hinge on talks between the Greek-Cypriot president, Demetris Christofias, and his Turkish-Cypriot counterpart, Mehmet Ali Talat. Mr Talat led the campaign to persuade Turkish-Cypriots to vote in favour of the UN’s Annan plan to reunite the island in 2004. But the Greek-Cypriots overwhelmingly rejected the plan in a separate vote, so Cyprus joined the EU as a divided island. The Greek-Cypriots have been subverting Turkey’s EU membership talks ever since.

The mood improved markedly when Mr Christofias, who like his fellow left-winger, Mr Talat, favours a settlement, was elected president in February 2008. Substantive peace talks began last year with the backing of Turkey’s government, still keen on a settlement similar to that proposed in the Annan plan. This calls for the establishment of a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation between Greeks and Turks.
Mr Eroglu publicly espouses the idea of reunification, saying that talks between Mr Talat and Mr Christofias must continue. Yet many suspect he prefers the status quo, which means continued dependence on Turkey and keeping 30,000 Turkish troops. Mr Eroglu talks of sending “a representative” to the peace talks. If he sticks to his campaign pledge to scrap a commission set up under Mr Talat to return occupied properties to Greek-Cypriots, the talks may collapse altogether.
Despite all this, Mr Talat met Mr Christofias again on April 21st. In a show of support, Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, made clear that he would not tolerate mischief-making by Mr Eroglu. “We will not be supporting any steps that will weaken the hand of the president,” Mr Erdogan insisted. Some fret that Mr Erdogan may yet yield to hawks in his own party. Another worry is whether Turkey’s generals really want a deal.
What is clear is that the EU complicated matters hugely by letting a divided Cyprus join. “Had [the EU] been less rigid and cleverer, it would have lifted the sanctions long ago and thereby minimised the dependency of northern Cyprus on Ankara,” argues Yavuz Baydar, a commentator. It would also have eased Turkey’s accession to the EU. But that is just what Turkey’s detractors inside the EU do not want.

http://www.economist.com/world/europ...ry_id=13527550

I have a few Greek cypriot friends and they don't seem to like the division very much, I would like to know what others think of any possible reunification.

[Mikelus Trento]

Common sense would indicate on an island that size, it should be 1 country. I just find it hard to understand why the EU would have let in a divided country. Their inclusion most definately should have been dependent on their re-unification.....and Turkey's membership also.

[Babur]

Common sense would indicate on an island that size, it should be 1 country. I just find it hard to understand why the EU would have let in a divided country. Their inclusion most definately should have been dependent on their re-unification.....and Turkey's membership also.

True,well it has been going on for too long now imo, they should just re-unify.

[Ishoss]

Let the Cypriots decide wether it shall stay split, one state, or join Turkey or Greece.

[Babur]

Let the Cypriots decide wether it shall stay split, one state, or join Turkey or Greece.

Wasn't there a referendum in the past or no?

they should just unify into a federal republic imo

well yeah with a degree of autonomy for both Greeks and Turks?

[._.]

well yeah with a degree of autonomy for both Greeks and Turks?

of course. i don't think the EU would tolerate one group oppressing the other anyway

[Babur]

of course. i don't think the EU would tolerate one group oppressing the other anyway

yeah well could the EU do anything about the issue right now?

[King Edward III]

Let the Cypriots decide wether it shall stay split, one state, or join Turkey or Greece.

Or rejoin the British Empire!

We'll have the Ionian Islands back also.

[Babur]

Or rejoin the British Empire!

We'll have the Ionian Islands back also.

lol can I have the island of Lesbos?

on topic, I think this problem may not have occured if Greece didn't have a ruling junta (funded by the CIA right?).

But can I ask though just out of curiousity to our Turkish members,do Pan-Turkists also want to integrate at least Northern Cyprus into a Pan-Turkic union? .

EDIT:

I just found this pic too:

[boerekovic]

well, turks live there and there was a kickass invasion to take it, so why not.

but the map you present is very funny, whole of asia isnt turkish.

[awalanche]

well, turks live there and there was a kickass invasion to take it, so why not.

but the map you present is very funny, whole of asia isnt turkish.

It is not funny. Actual throught history Turks were composed many nomadic tribes. Anatolian Turks are just a branch of it. Take a look at the tree

[Babur]

well, turks live there and there was a kickass invasion to take it, so why not.

but the map you present is very funny, whole of asia isnt turkish.

yeah the map is unrealistic

As far as I know PanTurkism first objective is to unite Turks at motherland and nearby territoires with Anatolian Turks.

It does not specifically involve Turks at Cyprus. If it would invole, I think it also should focus on Turks at Balkans.

Right now Pan-Turkism is a dream which frightens Russia especially.

But nobody knows what will happen in the future

lol please don't tell me you support it, White Wolf told me it is dead as a ideology lol

It is not funny. Actual throught history Turks were composed many nomadic tribes. Anatolian Turks are just a branch of it. Take a look at the tree

A Turanist sent me that pic too, I would take that pic with a pinch of salt since it claims that Iranian peoples such as the Alans are Turks and rather mysterious peoples such as the Sumerians and Etruscans who I highly doubt spoke a Turkic dialect.

The Junta leader Papadopoulos was handpicked.. as a collaborator with the Nazis in WW2 he was the perfect guy for the US!!

lol how did the monarchy cope during the period btw? also going back earlier, immediately after WW1 did some Greeks want Cyprus to be part of Megali Hellas?.

[awalanche]

lol can I have the island of Lesbos?

on topic, I think this problem may not have occured if Greece didn't have a ruling junta (funded by the CIA right?).

But can I ask though just out of curiousity to our Turkish members,do Pan-Turkists also want to integrate at least Northern Cyprus into a Pan-Turkic union? .

EDIT:

I just found this pic too:

As far as I know PanTurkism first objective is to unite Turks at motherland and nearby territoires with Anatolian Turks.

It does not specifically involve Turks at Cyprus. If it would invole, I think it also should focus on Turks at Balkans.

Right now Pan-Turkism is a dream which frightens Russia especially.

But nobody knows what will happen in the future

[Platon]

..I think this problem may not have occured if Greece didn't have a ruling junta (funded by the CIA right?).

The Junta leader Papadopoulos was handpicked.. as a collaborator with the Nazis in WW2 he was the perfect guy for the US!!

[Stavroforos]

Or rejoin the British Empire!

We'll have the Ionian Islands back also.

I actually like that flag we had as the Ionian Republic or whatever it was called. United Ionian States?

[King Edward III]

lol can I have the island of Lesbos?

As long as you share.

I actually like that flag we had as the Ionian Republic or whatever it was called. United Ionian States?

United States of the Ionian Islands.



Quite like it also, very reminiscent of the flag of Venice.

[._.]

they should just unify into a federal republic imo

[Arjun]

I have been interested in this story for quite a while, and not just cos my aunt is Greek Cypriot.


Yeah, the division is lame and the Island should be given to its owners, the Greek Cypriots and not the interlopers . I'm not calling for the eviction of the Turkish settlers; but the abolishment of the hold Turkish government holds on the northern part of the island.


Imo Turkey should not be allowed to join the EU till they solve this issue and that of the Kurdish people...and yeah..also accept officially that the Armenian genocide happened.

[Babur]

I have been interested in this story for quite a while, and not just cos my aunt is Greek Cypriot.


Yeah, the division is lame and the Island should be given to its owners, the Greek Cypriots and not the interlopers . I'm not calling for the eviction of the Turkish settlers; but the abolishment of the hold Turkish government holds on the northern part of the island.

I think both people should live together peacefully in a federal nation.

Imo Turkey should not be allowed to join the EU till they solve this issue and that of the Kurdish people...and yeah..also accept officially that the Armenian genocide happened.

well it makes things kind of confusing,however in 2004, Kofi Annan proposed a solution to the problem but it was rejected by Greek cypriots.

[Arjun]

I think both people should live together peacefully in a federal nation.

That, as Akrotatos stated; would not be possible until Turkey withdraws is troops.

well it makes things kind of confusing,however in 2004, Kofi Annan proposed a solution to the problem but it was rejected by Greek cypriots.

i do not know what the solution was, but apparently if it was but a "sanitized" version of the current situation, obviously the Greeks would not accept it.

The solution proposed was pro-Turkish, you can't blame them.

It did not safeguard the return to their lands, it did not take care of the settlers from Anatolia that changed demographics, it did not order the withdraw of the Turkish army. In fact all it did promiss was the division to two federal states, in other words, just legalize the current situation.

Yeah, i hate this tactic a lot of occupiers use, to change the demography of the occupied country/region by settling more colonists from their own lands. Apparently this is what happened in Cyprus, and is whats happening in Tibet(by China) and SriLanka(By the Srilankan Government).


btw, i have a question...don't the Greek Cypriots outnumber the settlers? why not call for a referendum?