Against this background, the UN has been continuing efforts, which I will describe as hopeless, to reunite the two communities under a federal Cypriot state based on the political equality of the two parties.
Unsurprisingly, the Greek Cypriot administration, which enjoys international recognition as a state, has long been dragging its feet to agree on a solution that will reunite the island based on political equality for both communities. The Greek Cypriot administration, instead, insists on a solution that will make the Turkish Cypriots its subordinates.
There are strong signs emerging at the moment that the current peace talks to reunite Cyprus will be the last ones and that if they fail, it may become inevitable for the Turkish Cypriot administration to draw a new roadmap to strengthen its existence as a state.
KKTC President Derviş Eroğlu spoke with a group of Turkish journalists he hosted last weekend at his residence in Lefkoşa, the Cypriot capital, which has been divided between the two communities, telling them that the Cyprus peace negotiations cannot continue for 100 years.
“If the talks fail this time, the Turkish Cypriots will decide their own future. July 1 marks the end of peace talks. I will tell my people at that time that we should stick to our state [KKTC]. And we will design policies to strengthen the existence of the state in the north,” he said firmly.
Eroğlu, however, fell short of telling the Turkish journalists what these policies would be.
Eroğlu referred to the start of a six-month-long EU term presidency of the Greek Cypriot administration when he said July 1 was the end of peace talks.
Turkey has already stated that it will freeze its relations with the EU if Greek Cypriots assume the term presidency in the absence of a resolution of the Cyprus dispute.
Since there are only four months left before the Greek Cypriot term presidency begins, it seems that it will take a miracle to find a solution to unify the island.
Kudret Özersay, the chief Turkish Cypriot negotiator in talks with the Greek Cypriots under the auspices of the UN, joined our lunch with Eroğlu and pointed out that efforts to reunite Cyprus have been continuing for 44 years now -- since 1968.
“The solution is an exception; it has never happened. But there exists a situation where the Cyprus question has not been resolved for 44 years,” he added.
If the current Cyprus peace talks collapse, there is nothing the Greek Cypriots will lose because they are the ones recognized internationally as the state in Cyprus.
The Turkish Cypriot administration draws a gloomy picture over the fate of the ongoing talks.
People in the streets of Lefkoşa, Gazimağusa (Famagusta) and in the resort town of Girne have long been frustrated over the uncertainty of their future status and because they have been suffering from EU and UN embargoes as a result. The repercussions from the long-lasting isolation can be read on the faces of the people with whom I talked -- hopelessness. They need to have a status to bring life to the northern section of the island.
Both the Greek and the Turkish Cypriots have been allowed to visit each other's territories. This also increases Turkish Cypriots' misery as they see how developed the southern Cypriot side is in comparison to the north.
From Girne, we, as a group of journalists, reached Gazimağusa on the eastern coast of Cyprus in the Turkish section after an hour-long drive. Adjacent to Gazimağusa is Maraş (Varosha), a ghost city closed to habitation since 1974. Once a famous resort town, the tall buildings visible from Gazimağusa have turned into ruins. Entry into the city requires obtaining permission from either the UN or from the Turkish military.
Maraş is kept closed and is to be handed over to the Greek Cypriots if there is a solution.
We asked KKTC President Eroğlu whether he can issue a permit for us to enter this ghost city. His answer was quite striking since he told us that Turkish military units issue the permits. Here you are -- the system of military tutelage is still at work in the northern half of Cyprus.
Mainland Turkey has taken considerable steps to bring the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) under civilian democratic control, though it has a long way to go to fully end the system of military tutelage. But it is hard to say that this process has also been initiated in northern Cyprus.
During our travel from Lefkoşa, Girne and finally to Gazimağusa, we saw some of the many Turkish military garrisons. There are estimated to be around 30,000 to 60,000 Turkish troops deployed in the Turkish section of the island. Maintaining such a high number of Turkish troops there is quite costly for Turkey, and their number should definitely be reduced. This is because a future military conflict is highly unlikely on the island.
