Negotiators Agree to Resume Cyprus Reunification Talks
We've been down this road before- repeatedly. I lived in Cyprus for a year in 1984-85, and this is almost verbatim what was being discussed then. Most of the central characters have changed, but the debate and the issues are still largely the same. Yawn...I've seen this movie before. Wake me when something significant changes, OK?
UNITED NATIONS -- In a major breakthrough, Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders agreed Friday to resume full negotiations next week to end the 30-year division of Cyprus before it joins the European Union on May 1.
The agreement caps a lengthy and often tortuous effort by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to end one of the world's longest and most intractable disputes. It came after three days of grueling talks, including a marathon session that dragged on into the early hours Friday among the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders as well as Greek and Turkish diplomats.
Under the deal brokered by Annan, negotiations will resume Feb. 19 in Cyprus. If the Greek and Turkish sides fail to reach an agreement, Annan will decide any outstanding issues -- but Greek and Turkish Cypriots will have the final say on the agreement in referendums in April....
Cyprus was divided in 1974 after a coup and Turkish invasion into a Turkish-occupied north and a Greek-controlled south. If the island is still divided on May 1, the EU laws and benefits will apply only to people in the Greek Cypriot south.
Nothing at all changed while I was there, nothing has changed since I was there, and I'd wager that nothing will change now. The sad thing is that the absolute intractability of the parties involved here have rendered the Turkish northern portion of the island an isolated Third-World outpost. I'm guessing that is not about to change.
Frankly, this dispute makes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict look like child's play. Thankfully, no one has been conducting suicide attacks in downtown Nicosia- primarily because the Greek and Turkish communities are completely separate. This self-imposed apartheid may seem silly, but it has certainly kept the body count down.
I do have one question, though. After 30 years, how do you put things back to what they were? When you essentially have two generations that have grown up with the enforced division of the island, how do you convince Greek Cypriots that they can trust Turkish Cypriots, and vice-versa? When, and if, re-unification ever becomes a reality, the challenge will be in getting the communities to live together instead of demonizing (and ultimately murdering) one another. The longer the "Cyprus question" continues unresolved, the less likely the prospect of a successful reunification becomes. After 30 years of division, Cyprus is essentially two countries, whether or not Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots admit to this reality. The passage of time will certainly not make undoing this reality any easier.
