The future of Cyprus

EU Commissioners Verheugen and Patten said they felt cheated by the Greek Cypriots. How much more cheated do we the Turkish Cypriots feel? For more than forty years we have suffered debilitating uncertainty and restrictions on our trade and travel just because, back in 1964 the Security Council chose to ignore what Greek Cypriots had done in Cyprus and why. The internationally created Partnership Republic of Cyprus was deliberately destroyed in order to use it as a "spring board" for Enosis-union with Greece! Turkish Cypriots have done nothing to deserve such treatment and the United Nations has never authorized an embargo. It is not fair to expect Turkish Cypriots to endure it any longer, nor is it fair to penalize Turkey a moment longer in respect of Cyprus.

The plan was described by Colin Powell as the end of the process. "There is no Plan B." he said. "There is nothing else coming along." Kofi Annan himself said "There is no other plan out there — this is it. It would be wrong to give Greek Cypriots any more time while Turkish Cypriots suffer, so there must be no more attempts to force incompatible parties together. After the embargo is lifted the two peoples will work out a modus vivendi. Kofi Annan has declared that our relationship is not one of majority and minority in Cyprus but of political equality, where neither side may claim authority over the other.

The time has come to accept that the two peoples of Cyprus should be freed to live their lives in their own way and to trade and travel as free people in the modern world. The EU said we could not be left out in the cold if Greek Cypriots vote "no" and we therefore call upon the EU and assistance to repair the damage done to our economy by forty years of restrictions. These measures should not be vetoed.

Some people think that there would be something unfair or unjust in this. I do not agree with them. Turkish Cypriots did nothing to deserve the attacks which the Greek Cypriots made on them and which resulted in the death of so many of their men, women and children and the separation of the two peoples. British Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Hume, wrote in his memoirs that if the Greek Cypriot leadership could not treat the Turkish Cypriots as human beings they were inviting the invasion and partition of the island. Our only "crime" was to be born Turkish, in a land which the Greek Cypriots treat as a Greek island.

We find it hard to believe that the U.N. allowed the Greek Cypriots to get away with this and rewarded them by treating their officials as the proper official Government of Cyprus. We will forgive the Greek Cypriots and forget the past, but it puzzles us to hear Greek Cypriots calling us their brothers and sisters whilst doing their best to strangle our economy and projecting us to the world as their minority living under occupation. They even deny that there are restrictions, but why then can we not fly direct from the EU to Northern Cyprus?

People who have moved as a result of the exchange of population agreement in 1975 have now been resettled for 30 years or more on both sides and the clock cannot be turned back. The property issue must be dealt with once and for all and we appeal for funds to compensate all people on both sides who lost there property.

We have no aggressive intent toward the Greek Cypriots no policy of becoming "the government of Cyprus" on our own and we have opened our border. The Greek Cypriots know they have nothing to gain by attacking us and Turkey and Greece now have a mature relationship. It would be unrealistic to regard Cyprus as a threat to international peace.

We know that some people would like to see the two peoples of Cyprus united, but ours is a failed marriage. We have lived apart for forty years, but this is better than living in disharmony and conflict in the same house, on terms which cannot satisfy either of us. If a new marriage is to come about it must come from the free will of the two sides, who will need each other for the good of Cyprus. This cannot be achieved (as it has not been achieved for the last 40 years) by treating one of the parties, contrary to the rule of law, as the legitimate government of Cyprus.