Over the years, many rounds of negotiations have taken place. All have failed. Each side has blamed the other. After all these years, the island has become two states: the Republic of Cyprus, recognized by the world, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), only recognized by Turkey. While some of the older generation still reminisce over the good old days when Greek and Turkish Cypriots lived by side by side, the majority of the younger generation have no such memories. All they have are stories that have been recited, a thousand times over, of murder and terror. They have no real desire to reunify. They have no feelings of “Cypriotism,” no nice stories to tell and, to a large extent, no desire to share power. Nevertheless, the search for a solution goes on -- apparently it’s what is best for the islanders -- and to this end the leaders of the two communities, Mehmet Ali Talat and Dimitris Christofias, have been negotiating a new deal since September 2008 based on the long-standing UN agreement of a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation. While there is talk of optimism and progress, most people (inside and outside of the island) don’t believe a solution will be found. While the two leaders claim to be old friends and united in their desire for a solution, at the same time they continue to blame each other for the lack of progress. Indeed, the Cyprus problem has for a long time become a vicious circle of blame which is increasingly difficult to break or move on from.At the end of last week, Mehmet Ali Talat came to Brussels to give an update on developments from a Turkish Cypriot perspective because, for sure, Christofias would have a different story to tell. Indeed, Talat finds himself in a rather uncomfortable position because of the forthcoming presidential elections in the north in April. This election has become a sort of deadline for the talks, and there is fear that if no deal is reached by then Talat will not be re-elected and his successor will have no interest in the sort of deal that is currently being negotiated. The international community is well aware of this, which is why increased pressure is being put on the two leaders to move the process along, and more than likely, diplomatic traffic to the island will continue to increase in the coming weeks.
While Talat agreed that progress had been made in many areas, he also admitted that many difficulties remained -- such as on property -- and that some topics, like security, had not even been discussed. While both Turkish and Greek Cypriots agree that they would like to see the island demilitarized in the long term, in the short term the Turkish Cypriots continue to say that the withdrawal of the 35,000 Turkish soldiers should be phased over a number of years and that in the meantime, there is no possibility to replace the Turkish troops with “international forces” because they don’t trust them. On the other hand, many Greek Cypriots continue to fear the Turkish military presence and view it as an ongoing threat. And with the remaining short time frame, there is an urgent need to speed up and intensify the talks, which means both leaders need to be far more ready to close gaps and give and take on difficult issues.
New problems should not be thrown in -- such as demands from Turkish Cypriots that the two constituent states should have the right to sign international agreements. This sort of suggestion is simply not serious and just wastes precious time. This view was also expressed by the UN secretary-general during his visit to the island earlier in the week, when he made it very clear the talks need to move at a quicker pace if they were to bear fruit. Talat continues to insist that Christofias is keeping the talks at a slow pace as a way of extracting more concessions from the Turkish Cypriots. Talat reported that he had suggested to Christofias that the venue for the negotiations should be transferred to another location outside of the island in order that the talks are not disturbed by internal politics, but apparently Christofias rejected this idea, stating that he was far too busy. Nevertheless, the introduction of the three days of intensified talks that began in January seems to have had a positive impact and progress has been made on some thorny issues. Both of them face tough opposition, and while Christofias may not have an election to face, his coalition forces are increasingly unsupportive and oppose his concessions on many issues.
Back in 2004, it seemed victory was within reach, but at the last minute, everything crashed and burned thanks to the Greek Cypriot no vote. This time around the situation is even more difficult -- not least because of the Republic of Cyprus’ membership in the European Union -- and it will be a real miracle if the two leaders succeed.
