CYPRUS: A LIMIT TO CONCESSIONS

Back in the early 1950s, Greek and Greek Cypriots began a guerilla movement to achieve union with Greece, or ‘Enosis.’ But when the Turkish Cypriots with Turkey’s support opposed being under Greece’s sovereignty, the only solution was to establish an order based on the political equality of two nations on the island. This order was established with the 1961 Nicosia Agreement. However, Greek Cypriots openly violated this agreement by excluding Turks from government posts.

Considering the history of this issue, this disagreement is not to be easily solved. Furthermore, the Greek Cypriots have continued their efforts to make the Turkish Cypriots into a minority. These efforts entered a new stage when the Greek Cypriots sought European Union membership, stating that Turkey had no other chance. Not only the Greek Cypriots and Greece, but also the EU member states and the US have started thinking they can make Turkey swallow anything for its EU membership bid as it has no other chance (!). The impression that the majority of Turkish Cypriots are dreaming of becoming rich as part of an EU-member Cyprus has only strengthened this tendency.

Last month’s elections in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) proved this impression untrue. Indeed, the votes gotten by parties who want UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s plan accepted ‘as is’ numbered less than those gotten by parties opposing it. TRNC President Rauf Denktas’s visits to Ankara show that the majority of the Turkish people don’t favor a dishonorable solution on Cyprus for the sake of EU membership. Now it’s Turkish diplomacy’s duty to lay out the conditions under which consensus is possible.”