Opposition has slight advantage in Cyprus: Voting focusing on reunification
Fear won over peace.
- Bulent Aliriza
Those of who follow events in Cyprus are familiar with the cycle. Hopes are raised, the Turks get the feathers ruffled, the Greeks feel their dignity has been impugned, and in the end nothing happens. I lived in Cyprus almost 20 years ago, and even though the current proposal definitely has some legs, I would submit that the UN is no closer to a solution to the euphemistically-named "Cyprus Problem" than they were in 1984.
To live in Nicosia is to live in a city where shops in the Green Line still have appliances that were delivered in 1974. Most of these shops are booby-trapped, and have been for almost 30 years. The explosives used in these booby traps are now so unstable that no one has any idea what to expect when they try to disarm them- not that will likely ever happen in our lifetimes.
NICOSIA, Cyprus -- Proponents and opponents of a plan to unify Cyprus appeared evenly split in Sunday's vote for parliamentary seats in the Turkish-controlled areas, dashing hopes of an early resolution of the decades-old dispute between Turkish and Greek Cypriots.
With almost all of the votes counted, a coalition of three parties favoring unification had a bare majority, while the coalition of parties rejecting a U.N.-sponsored plan, led by veteran Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, had about 45 percent of the vote. Because of how the districts are structured, the sides were expected to evenly divide the 50 seats in the assembly.
Cyprus has been split between a Greek south and a Turkish north since Turkish troops invaded in 1974 amid a short-lived coup by supporters of union with Greece and fighting that killed about 3,000 people.
"Forming a government will be extremely difficult," said Mehmet Ali Talat, leader of the leading Turkish Cypriot opposition Republican Turkish Party, which defeated the ruling National Unity Party for the first time. "We have failed to decisively swing voters in favor of peace."....
But with the deadlock on the Turkish side, it is unclear what would be the next step in trying to resolve the fate of the island.
A clear opposition victory in the Turkish-controlled north would have strengthened the hand of Turkey's reformist prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, as he seeks to overcome resistance from military leaders at home. Those leaders along with Denktash oppose the U.N. peace plan, arguing it would lead to Greek control over the island.
The outcome also is likely to complicate Turkey's bid to gain entry into the European Union. EU leaders have told Turkey that its membership cannot be considered until the Cyprus issue is resolved.
Both sides have become so ossified over the past 29 years that the odds of Turks and Greeks ever co-exisiting on arguably one of the most beautiful islands on the planet are very, very long. I applaud those that have worked so hard over the years to try to reunite Greek and Turkish Cyprus. It was an intractable problem to begin with, and it has only been made more difficult with the passage of time.
If I were to hazard a guess here, I'd have to say that fear and hatred will (once again) win. 2004 will see Cyrpus as intractably divided as it was in 1994, 1984, and 1974- ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
