NICOSIA: Where does Cyprus’s dividing line begin and end? It’s a question that has been taxing minds — right down to the last metre. Greek and Turkish Cypriot community leaders meet on Wednesday, launching another bid to resolve the decades-old division of Cyprus before the island joins the European Union.
Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash have slightly more than a few dislodged bricks to deal with in their deliberations. If they succeed in reuniting Cyprus it will ensure a trouble-free EU expansion, lift a bane in relations between NATO allies Greece and Turkey and help Ankara’s troubled path to joining Europe.
Each side agrees that the issue should be settled. But stark differences exist on how to get there. Settling the conflict which has divided the island along ethnic Greek and Turkish lines for almost 30 years is key to ensuring that the European Union’s ambitious enlargement plan doesn’t backfire badly.
Cyprus’s internationally recognised government, now made up solely of Greek Cypriots, is negotiating for the entire island to join even though a third of it is effectively beyond its control as a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state headed by Denktash.
Turkey has said it could “annex” the territory if Cyprus joins the EU without a settlement. The EU is in a quandary. Mindful of the risks of admitting a divided island, it also has to contend with warnings from EU member Greece which has been adamant it will not ratify any expansion which does not include Cyprus, a leading candidate.
Clerides and Denktash are expected to come up with firm results within the next few months on an array of issues — from the composition of a future reunited state, its powers and sovereignty to equitable distribution of territory and resettling displaced persons.
Analysts say the status of the two sides in a future settlement is the thorniest issue and will be the most likely source of friction during the talks. “If the issue of status, or sovereignty, is sorted out, then it will be much simpler to solve other issues,” said one insider who has followed the Cyprus talks for years. Sovereignty is key for the Turkish Cypriots who have been effectively without any international voice since 1963, when they withdrew from a power-sharing administration with the Greek Cypriots.
US think-tanks have come up with the concept of a “United States” of Cyprus with a complex power-sharing suggestion, giving the island a new constitution which would see a rotating presidency every six months, and a rotating premiership every two years, papers reported this week. Mediators could have their hands full putting such ideas into practice. —Reuters