Let me put Ms. Lopez’s announcement that she would not fly to northern Cyprus into perspective: shortly before news broke about the cancelled sho, British Foreign Secretary William Hague had met with his Greek Cypriot counterpart, Marcus Kyprianou, in an apparent move to help to find a stable solution for the entire island. While not directly related, both events are intertwined in a certain sense, though with that they bring to mind the absurdity of the continuous split between north and south.
Not only Ms. Lopez but also her group of advisers clearly made mistakes by first accepting the concert booking with the clear knowledge that some pressure groups may overreact -- apparently initially of no concern to both the singer and her team, and quite rightly so -- and by then putting comments of a political nature onto the singer’s website after cancelling the show, only to have the very same unhelpful comments withdrawn by the singer herself some hours later. All in all an unfortunate incident!
On a more positive note: on the political front things seem to be starting to move, again. Being a key actor, the new British government reiterated its interest in a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality. According to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), Mr. Hague went on to say after the above-mentioned meeting with Mr. Kyprianou that “we want to see a settlement agreed and successfully implemented to deliver a stable, prosperous and united Cyprus, operating as a valued partner within the EU, at the earliest opportunity.” Now here is food for thought -- and what Mr. Hague had in mind is probably the only viable, long-lasting solution to end the conflict without any side losing face.
Not only elected politicians, financially well-equipped lobby groups are active in this domain, too, but this is what makes democracy tick. Coming back to the cancelled pop concert, it was not the Greek government that officially sent letters to Ms. Lopez to change her schedule (at least we did not hear about that if they did), nor had the politicians on the northern part of the island extended the initial invitation to Ms. Lopez. It was a private business-to-business venture with large sums of money involved, then protested by citizens and lobby groups.
So what is the solution: shall governments stop listening to pressure groups? Of course not! At the same time the question must be raised as to whether pop stars should cancel shows due to the very same pressure groups. The KKTC is no dangerous, far-away territory, but hopefully one day soon part of the European Union, part of one of the world’s largest consumer markets. The KKTC is a very safe destination to travel to. Event tourism could be the first milestone in easing economic isolation.
Hence, I hope that other celebrities decide in favor of playing in the KKTC, that more entrepreneurs are able to allocate the funding for these events and that, whilst of course not banning pressure groups that demand otherwise, step by step the KKTC’s economic isolation will be removed. Similarly, not only London should talk to the Greek Cypriots about more pro-actively finding a lasting solution but the governments of other EU member states should, too.
If talks succeed and all goes well, and after having the northern part of Cyprus fully integrated into the EU, its citizens will more or less overnight enjoy the “4Fs,” or Four Freedoms, of people, goods, capital and services by having become EU citizens -- similar to what happened to the former citizens of East Germany after reunification, too -- something mainland Turkey aspires to as well. There is now a window of opportunity for unifying Cyprus. Can Cyprus be reunified come the summer of 2011? In the interests of all people living on the island, I would sincerely hope so.
