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The "evils" of the Cyprus problem - Soon it may be too late...

Karakostanoglou Benjamin

The Cyprus problem as an international problem was not created either in 1963 or in 1974. It began when the Greek Cypriot liberation struggle began, in which the Turkish Cypriots did not participate and were obviously opposed. As an idea, partition already existed since 1948 (Hurriyet), in 1956 (New York Times, Attila's Map), in 1956 (Cyprus Recovery Plan, Nihat Erim and the Turkish Army's Special Warfare Office and Denktash's TMT-Turkish Resistance Organization). In 1956-1964 it was discussed in London (Foreign Office), while it was the target of the Turkish invasion in 1974.

Since November 1974, it seems that the bizonal-bicommunal solution was accepted by the Greek Cypriot side (1977 Makarios-Denktas Agreements and 1979 Kyprianou-Denktas) and finally (after the proclamation of the pseudo-state in 1983) UN Security Council Resolution 694/1990 proposed the bizonal-bicommunal solution.

So there was: a continuous slide towards the Turkish positions that slowly and methodically led to the Annan plan in 2003-2004. Either due to wishful thinking for a supposedly bona fide solution by the Turkish Cypriots and the Turks, or due to fatigue of the Greek Cypriots and gradual adaptation to the fait accompli of the invasion-occupation, or due to pressure from foreign powers (to promote Turkey's accession to the EU and its stay in the West in general), or even due to pressure from the displaced-refugees Greek Cypriots.

It is a fundamental mistake to discuss plans that, although with marginal improvements, are based on the logic of the Annan plan! That is, a state formation that is not appropriate for an EU member state, is not democratic, is not fully independent and sovereign. The maintenance of foreign military forces and the regime of guarantees and intervention rights could perhaps have stood in 1960 (and then only transitionally) but not in 2017-2021 (60 years later).

Present situation

Furthermore, the continued presence of Turkey's occupying troops proves:

• The lack of will of the International Community (UN, European Union, NATO) to implement international law.
• Turkey's absolute refusal to allow the free and democratic development of an independent and unguarded Cypriot State, apparently due to its own strategic interests and not, supposedly, for the security of Turkish Cypriots. The only threat to Cyprus comes from Ankara to the Greek Cypriots!
• Talking to Ankara's stooges in Cyprus makes no sense. It simply helps exonerate Turkey.
• The situation in Cyprus and the solution being promoted must be compared to problems such as those in Bosnia and especially Kosovo, in order to demonstrate the blatant contradictions (the double standards) and the hypocrisy of international diplomacy and the powerful actors of the International Community.
  The Greek-Turkish side (80% majority) is called upon to choose non-democratic solutions, i.e. unsustainable governance proposals, which will sooner or later cause entanglements and ruptures. It is also called upon to equalize quantitatively with the minority and open the door to Turkey to the island's wealth-producing resources, but also to the institutional rights that Cyprus has as a member of the European Union.
• The benefit, the compensation, will be at most 8% of the territory (which will supposedly be added to the 67% controlled by the Greek Cypriots). Of course, without a corresponding proportion of coastline (only 50,5%) and with an uneven distribution of the resources and advantages of the Cypriot territory, the richest, fertile, etc. part of which belongs to the occupied territories.

Is it worth it? Especially when the trade-off is:

a) The legalization of invasion-occupation (why wouldn't Turkey try it again?).
b) The legalization of the illegal appropriation of Greek Cypriot properties, etc., for 47 years.
c) The legalization of most settlers, which is an international crime, but perhaps also the future entry of new settlers by decisions of the Turkish Cypriot Federal State.
d) The abolition (and not the internal evolution) of the Cypriot state, which constitutes the main international advantage of the Greek Cypriots, namely the legal personality as an international subject of the state of the Republic of Cyprus, a member state of the UN, many International Organizations and of course the European Union.
e) The uncertainty about Turkey's future behavior regarding compliance with the agreements, especially if it maintains, even as a transitional, right of guarantee, with the right to intervene with the occupation troops under the pretext of causing...!

Before it's too late

As Greeks, we know better than anyone else in the world the perversion of justice, the deceptive tactics, the unreliability and inconsistency of our evil neighbor (cunning and exploitative): The gradual overthrow of the Treaty of Lausanne, the non-implementation of every Allied Agreement (1930, 1950, etc.) the tactics of salamiization, etc. (in Constantinople, Imbros, Tenedos, the Aegean, Western Thrace and of course in Cyprus itself, especially with the second Attila of August 1974).

Should we also refer to the Ottoman past of which modern Turks are so proud: Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds, Alevi Muslims, they experienced the violence and authoritarianism of the Ottoman Sultanate, from which today's Turkish leaders are probably worse, in proportion to the century we are in!

It is one thing to discuss the creation of a privileged minority status, even a bicommunal one, and quite another to subordinate the majority to the minority and to the illegal, extortionate and dynastic neighbor. A neighbor who is unfortunately very close to the north of Cyprus, thus having a natural and permanent geostrategic advantage. It does not need any other additions to generate security for the Turkish Cypriots from the existence of the Turkish Cypriot federal state in the north of Cyprus.

A new landing of Turkish troops will be a walk in the park, especially if the new Cyprus is demilitarized and the National Guard is abolished! Unfortunately, the guarantees of the UN Security Council or the EU will be dramatically late in saving the situation! So let us finally become Greeks and Greek Cypriots, Prometheans and not Epimetheans! Before it is irreparably late!

Source: slpress.gr