THE NEW POLITICS OF THE CYPRUS ISSUE |
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Prof. Dr. Ata ATUN |
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Either UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon himself took the new initiative on the Cyprus issue into his own hands, or somebody dropped it there.
The developments that took place this week regarding the Cyprus issue were all quite unexpected. Ban’s report, the Babacan-Bakoyannis agreement and British Minister of State for Europe Jim Murphy’s statements all hint at the new policy of the world’s political giants on the Cyprus issue. If you happen to know the political alphabet and understand political language, then you can easily understand what is cooking in the kitchen of politics.
It seems that the giants of politics did not forget the opposition of the Greek Cypriots in 2004’s referendum or the “political lie” told by Tassos Papadopoulos, the president of the Greek Cypriot administra-tion. During the Annan plan negotiations the strategy of the giants of politics was based entirely upon overcoming the problem of the opposi-tion of the Turkish Cypriots, due to the false promise given by Papado-poulos, who had guaranteed the support of the Greek Cypriots.
Unexpectedly, Mr. Papadopoulos ruined the operation by ad-dressing Greek Cypriots on all the local TV channels a couple of days before the referendum, opposing the Annan plan and urging Greek Cypriots to vote “No” on the referendum, backed up by the genuine tears in his eyes.
Since 1955, the Cyprus problem has been harming global political relations. It seems that the giants of politics have once again decided to solve the Cyprus problem, aiming for a solution in 2008. This time it is quite obvious that all the necessary measures have already been taken against the dirty political tricks of Mr. Papadopoulos aimed at destroying the road towards a sustainable and fair solution to the Cyprus problem. Preparations to start a new round of negotiations towards a settlement of the Cyprus issue have already begun.
The first step was taken by Ban, with a message sent to the Greek Cypriots in a language they understand. The inhuman embargoes will be lifted from the Turkish Cypriots and the economy of the north will be placed on the same level as the south. If the Greek Cypriots once again block the road towards a solution and insist on keeping the false title of “the only recognized government of Cyprus,” the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) — or the Turkish Cypriots as an independent entity — will be annexed to the EU.
A supportive step towards this strategy was taken by the British weeks before in a strategic partnership document signed between Tur-key and the UK. The document includes a reference to northern Cyprus as the KKTC and mentions continued help for KKTC authorities and universities in their attempts to engage with the Bologna process.
British officials stressed in their statement their support for re-ducing the isolation of northern Cyprus and for working towards that end in the EU. Efforts at direct trade with KKTC and possible direct flights from the UK to northern Cyprus’s Ercan Airport may also be initiated if the Greek Cypriots keep blocking the negotiations towards a sustainable solution in the Cyprus issue.
If the political process towards solving the Cyprus problem is blocked by the Greek Cypriots from advancing as planned by the giants of politics, the consequence would be to raise the political level of the Turkish Cypriots to the same level as the Greek Cypriots.
The elimination of presidential candidate Mr. Papadopoulos and his permanent removal from Greek Cypriot politics is also on the agenda. It seems that he will not be allowed to be re-elected as presi-dent of the Greek Cypriot administration a second time. Every possible precaution will be put into effect to block his way to the presidency. Papadopoulos’ efforts and tears on screen to build up “No” votes during the April 24, 2004 referendum irrespective of his phony assurance of the “Yes” votes to open up the gates for the annexation to the EU, seem now to have helped dig his grave.
