Are the Cyprus talks reaching crisis point?

Change comes whether we like it or not. And in the case of Cyprus, it’s certainly been a long time coming. But do recent events regarding the Cyprus issue point to changes on the horizon?

Well, this week the Greek Cypriot House of Representatives approved a resolution to reject any form of Guarantor powers for Cyprus. The Turkish Cypriot Parliament swiftly passed their own counter-resolution to make sure that the guarantees of Turkey still remain in place. Worryingly, the lack of action by the British Government to protect the rights of Turkish Cypriots and recent comments made by the British Minister for Europe appear to show that Britain, as another Guarantor of Cyprus, has little knowledge of the real Cyprus problem, so it falls to Turkey to maintain itself as the only Guarantor willing to help the Turkish Cypriots. Prime Minister Eroğlu has already stated he will not allow any solution that doesn’t approve the Guarantees of Turkey. Is this the final nail in the coffin for the solution talks?

Then we have the North Cyprus presidential elections coming up on 18th April. The Democratic Party is calling for President Talat to withdraw from the talks during the election ban on the run up to the big day. But what will happen during the elections? Will President Talat announce his candidacy? Well, it is rumoured that he will be standing as an independent candidate, but in the political world, exactly how independent is independent? Prime Minister Eroğlu, who is the only person so far to announce his candidacy for President, is known for his more hard-lined approach to any solution on the Cyprus problem. According to the election timetable, applications for candidates must be made by March 12th so watch this space! Eroğlu is tipped to win, but what does this mean for us? Well, I guess elections all around the world are the same. After the post is confirmed and the dust settles we will have to wait and see what happens, but the potential for change is there.

Recently in the South there have been disputes between the coalition governments. Some members wanted out of the coalition because of their disagreement with how the solution talks were being dealt with. Now the DIKO party have voted to stay in, even though their leader, Marios Garoyian, believes that the results from the long negotiations have actually achieved “zero” results. We also have the rotating Presidency issue. According to recent surveys conducted on the South side, the vast majority of Greek Cypriots were against having a rotating Presidency with Turkish Cypriots. I wonder why! Polls in both North and South Cyprus also suggest that it’s becoming more unlikely that people would vote for reunification.

So let’s turn to Europe, which appears to be in chaos. The European Parliament is trying it’s hardest to put a spanner in the works by calling for Turkish troops to be withdrawn from North Cyprus. Either they have no idea what is really going on in Cyprus, or they don’t care. Turkey has always maintained that it will not abandon North Cyprus in its bid to join the EU. And to be honest, why does Turkey even want to join? Economic analysts suggest that Turkey is very strong and they have weathered the global recession well. But their stance on Cyprus means that their progress to join the EU will now be dead in the water. In contrast to Turkey, the Eurozone is falling apart. Many EU member states are in serious trouble. And with recent calls for Greece to be given its marching orders, it all questions exactly how long the Eurozone will last.

So far the solution talks appear to have gone nowhere. Is it now just a question of time before they are officially called off? Well, maybe it’s a waiting game. No one wants to be the first to walk away from the negotiating table. But things can only continue for so long before saying enough is enough. Lately we’ve been hearing more about a Plan B for North Cyprus. If the talks do fail, is this going to be the year to implement it? Will it be the year that partition of becomes officially recognized? After all, the North has really been living under partition since 1974 but without the benefits.

I think this year will be a positive one for North Cyprus. The continual tantrums by the South every time another country includes North Cyprus in trade, exhibitions, sporting events, or political arenas are well known. But he who shouts the loudest doesn’t always get what he wants.

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