But at least some parties to the conflict, including Turkey, are well aware that whatever efforts might be spent on uniting the Turkish and the Greek Cypriot communities on the island under a single state, it appears that in the end there will be two separate states on the island.Since Turkey's 1974 intervention in Cyprus to thwart an Athens-backed coup to unite the island with mainland Greece, the Turkish and the Greek Cypriot communities have lived apart peacefully. As the idea of separation of the two communities on the island has become more obvious in past years, now more than ever all efforts to unite the island have become meaningless.
To begin with, the EU accepted the Greek Cypriot part of the island as a member in May 2004 and as the sole representative of the island. This happened despite overwhelming Turkish Cypriot approval in April 2004 of a UN plan for a federated state for Cyprus -- the so-called Annan plan named after former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan -- while the majority of Greek Cypriots rejected the plan.
As Annan once commented last year, it was a major strategic mistake for the EU to accept Greek Cyprus as a member of the Union despite the fact that Turkish Cypriots had approved the plan.
How could one expect the Greek Cypriot administration to not use its veto card at the EU to block entry talks with Turkey while treating the Turkish community of the island as a minority group dependent on Turkey? Indeed, since its entry to the EU, Greek Cypriots have taken every opportunity to block Turkey's accession negotiations with the Union. Behind the latest row over the Greek Cypriot attempt to start oil and gas exploration work around the island under an agreement it signed with Lebanon lies the Greek Cypriot policy of showing to the world that it is the only sovereign state on the island.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry responded to the Greek Cypriot decision by saying in a statement on Tuesday that Turkey had "legitimate and legal rights and interests" in the eastern Mediterranean and insisted Turkish Cypriots also had a say on oil and gas rights concerning the island. The Turkish Cypriot administration similarly challenged the Greek Cypriot decision.
So what? Nothing will come of this latest row except more tension, to be diffused soon. It is also true that Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot establishment have made serious mistakes on Cyprus policies, always ending up playing into the hands of Greece and the international community.
Though it has come late, the current AK Party government's serious efforts to solve the Cyprus problem, culminating with Turkish Cypriot approval of the Annan plan, are a clear example of one of Ankara's rare proactive foreign policy stands. But this Ankara-backed Cyprus solution was sabotaged by the EU decision to accept the Greek Cypriot administration as a member state.
Nowadays there have been increased indications that we have been moving towards a two-state solution. As one Turkish diplomat told me recently, "We can't prevent the natural flow of the river."
I was reminded of this statement when I saw the news that 65 percent of Turkish Cypriots had said "yes" to a two-state formula for Cyprus. According to a recent poll released by the Cyprus Social and Economic Research Center (KADEM) released by the Turkish Cypriot news agency TAK on Jan. 30, this is the first time 65 percent of Turkish Cypriots approved a two-state solution while only 20 percent preferred a federated solution.
If we respect the will of the people, we should take the Turkish Cypriot people's choice for the separation of the two communities seriously and work toward that end.
