April 18, 2016 4:48 AM

Today's trip down Memory Lane takes us to Cyprus

The Eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus leapt into the headlines with the landing of a hijacked EgyptAir plane. It will soon make headlines again as the US and the UN move to end the 42-year division of that country…. These negotiations will have significant ramifications for the region and the U.S. Cyprus is a strong U.S. ally and the only western democracy, other than Israel, virtually within sight of Middle Eastern shores. Ending the occupation and division of Cyprus will be crucial to America’s security interests. If Cyprus’ division is ended properly, it can produce untold benefits, including a strengthening of the new geopolitical triangle of America’s western democratic allies in the Eastern Mediterranean — Israel, Greece and Cyprus. This triangle is important for many reasons including their shared natural gas findings. However, if this effort to end Cyprus’ division is mishandled, dangerous, unstable elements within the “Turkish occupied” third of Cyprus could gain a constitutionally approved foothold in the country. Some of these elements are responsible for the Cyprus-licensed pickup trucks seen carrying ISIS jihadists in Syria into battle.

Once upon a time, shortly after graduating from college, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to live in a land far, far away. Spending a year teaching in Cyprus was an indescribably idyllic experience for a 24-year-old kid who’d always had an interest in the Middle East but who’d never had the means to travel internationally.

I knew something of the recent history of Cyprus before I arrived on the island. For some reason, I’d followed the news reports surrounding the Turkish invasion in 1974. When I landed at Larnaca airport, I knew it was because Nicosia’s brand new airport was in the demilitarized zone, accessible only to the local rats and the U.N. peacekeeping force.

Being young and stupid, I had a fascination for the area around the Green Line that ran through Nicosia and separated the Turkish regular army from the somewhat ragtag Cypriot army. I frequently wandered around areas still mined and where front doors of shops were still booby-trapped. The explosives had become so unstable over the years that not even the U.N.’s combat engineers would take a shot at disarming them. I was like a kid in a candy store. Having grown up in a place where my idea of violence and/or warfare was a snowball fight, I was in an actual, honest-to-God war zone. In fact, I was so overly enthusiastic that I came damned close to being shot by a Turkish soldier. Turns out the Turkish regular army troops took their jobs seriously and, as I came close to finding out, were ready, willing, and able to put a few rounds through anyone stupid enough to traipse through places they had no business being in.

It may have been fun for me, but for the Greek Cypriots I lived among, it was no laughing matter. Some of my friends and colleagues could look north to the Kyrenia Range and see their villages, but couldn’t travel there because it was in the Turkish-occupied part of the island. Forty-two years after the invasion, tensions have eased slightly, and conditions are somewhat better…but it’s still an island divided by history, hatred, and force of arms.

The Cyprus issue has always been worthy of America’s undivided attention. For years U.S. Senators, Members of Congress and 1.2 million Greek-Americans have periodically said, “I am a Cypriot”. Egregious injustices against Cyprus perpetuated by Turkey, and sometimes even by our own government, led the Cyprus issue to be the only major foreign policy matter in modern history where the US Congress overrode the Executive Branch. Congress enforced the law by imposing a Turkish Arms Embargo following Turkey’s 1974 illegal invasion of Cyprus.

The “Cyprus issue,” as it’s so euphemistically referred to by Cypriots and those with a stake in negotiating a resolution, has proven to be every bit as intractable as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, though for very different reasons. The Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus was condemned by the U.N., no country- including the U.S.- has a vested interest in forcing the Turks off a few square kilometers of land with little strategic value and even fewer natural resources. The “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,” the puppet regime installed by the Turkish army, is recognized only by Turkey. Travel restrictions have eased somewhat over the years, but during my time there, traveling to the Turkish-occupied part of Cyprus posed a challenge. The only way I was able to travel into northern Cyprus from the Greek-dominated south was when a friend from the U.S. Embassy snuck me through the U.N. and Turkish checkpoints in a marked U.S. embassy vehicle.

Over the years, efforts to resolve the “Cyprus issue” have ebbed and flowed, alternately raising hopes and then dashing them as negotiations between the sides dissolved into acrimony and intransigence. Time and again, many international figures would come to Cyprus believing they could bring Greeks and Turks together and negotiate a peace agreement. Each time, those who arrived with optimism and high hopes would leave frustrated at their failure to crack the prevailing intransigence and negotiate a path to peace both sides could agree to travel.

Over the years, something resembling common ground has been found, but it hasn’t led the sides any closer to finding peace and/or normalizing relations. One of the unusual things about the long-running dispute is that each side truly is dependent on the other. The water treatment plant for the entire city of Nicosia is in the Turkish northern half of the city, and the electric utility for the city is located in the Greek southern half. Peace may have proven elusive over the years, but each side is dependent upon the other.

I’m not at all certain that this effort will succeed where all others over the past 40+ years have come up empty, but at least there’s renewed optimism. It’s a step in the right direction, though it remains to be seen whether that step will lead to others that will lead to the negotiated and mutually agreeable peace agreement which has eluded so many for so long.

With the pervasive growth of authoritarianism and the scale of atrocities committed in the Middle East and spreading across the globe, the Cyprus issue has risen to a tipping-point for humankind. As Cyprus recaptures headlines in the coming months, we must remind ourselves of this era’s struggle between the graces of civilization and the rawness of barbarism. And, we must all say, “E-meh Key-pre-os” — “I am a Cypriot”.

Unfortunately, Andy Manatos’ piece, while certainly well-intentioned, reads like so much of what comes out of Greek Cyprus- heavy on blaming Turkey and light on acknowledging the role Greek Cypriots played in creating the current long-standing conflict. Whatever one’s feelings might be about the Turkish invasion- and I’m certainly not one to blithely ignore the brutally illegal nature of it- the reality is that Cyprus is 42 years down the road from what happened in 1974. The invasion certainly shouldn’t be ignored, but focusing solely on that will only ensure that any negotations undertaken will result in the same care-worn frustration and intransigence.

Greek Cypriots can continue looking to affix blame, and Turkish Cypriots can pursue their own long-running grievances, but if peace is to be achieved, both sides will need to step away from their squabbles and resentment and look to the future. Living in the past and rehashing perceived injustices committed 40+ years ago can’t and won’t help create an environment conducive to creating peace.

As someone who’s lived in Cyprus, understands the issues, and loves (both sides of) the country, I would dearly love to see peace finally come to one of the world’s truly beautiful places. You’ll have to pardon me if I temper my enthusiasm, though. I’ve heard this tune so many times that I can no longer summon up much enthusiasm for possibilities. Cyprus is in its fifth decade of being long on possibilities for peace; I’m going to withhold my enthusiasm until there’s a negotiated, signed, and implemented peace agreement.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on April 18, 2016 4:48 AM.

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