Pre-negotiation manoeuvres

Niyazi Kızılyürek writing in Yenidüzen argues that by creating an artificial urgency to solve the Cyprus problem now or never, Turkey is really trying to get rid of the idea of federation as a solution, and is actually aiming for a two-state solution.

He refers to a recent statement by the Turkish Cypriot Foreign Minister Özdil Nami after a meeting with Ahmet Davutoğlu in Ankara who said that the “Turkish Cypriots need to be integrated into the world,” and expressed the desire for a solution in two months with March 2014 as the target. Nami added that "This problem should not go on for longer than 50 years. If this is not possible, the world should come up with a different answer to the question of what should be done in Cyprus?"

The writer also says that in the negotiations so far the Turkish side has mostly received, for example on issues such as governance, power-sharing, EU and the economy. On the issues of territory, property, security and guarantees, where the Turkish side had to give, there has been either no progress at all or no significant progress.

As regards territory, the Turkish side has hardened its stance in recent years, he says, referring to another speech by Nami in which he said the Turkish side had conveyed to its counterpart that “we will not be able to make the territorial concessions we made in the Annan Plan. Ten years have passed since then. There have been additional investments in regions except Varosha, which were subject to territorial adjustments. Life goes on. For that reason, it is more difficult to make the same concession. But the territorial adjustment will be more or less similar to how it was in that map."

In addition the parties are poles apart over security and guarantees, which are very important for the Greek Cypriot side. The Turkish side wants the Guarantee and Alliance agreements signed in 1960 to continue as they are, whereas there is no leader on the Greek Cypriot side who would agree to such a thing. Thus, he says, it is not clear how a federal state will be established. 

What’s more, he says, the Greek Cypriot side advocates that the Cyprus Republic should be restructured and transformed into a bi-zonal federal state and want the establishment of a kind of “Second Cyprus Republic.” The Turkish side on the other hand is fixated on the “virgin birth” scenario.

Claiming that the Cyprus problem may be solved in two months when there are so many divergences, and when the negotiations are being carried out by Osman Ertuğ, can only be a tactical manoeuver, the writer says. 

What the Turks are actually saying, he says, is: “We either solve the Cyprus problem in two months or the world has to forget about a federal solution and move towards a two-state solution.” Last March, Davutoğlu said, “we are ready to negotiate a two-state solution.” What a two-state solution would mean for the Turkish Cypriots would be becoming Turkey’s Gibraltar in Cyprus. 

The writer expresses the belief that Turkey is trying to do away with the federal state model by creating an artifical “urgency” about a federal solution. They have other plans, he says. He quotes Sami Kohen, who, he says, usually has good information about what is going on behind the scenes, and who wrote in Milliyet a few days ago that the idea that these new negotiations are the ‘end’ of the Cyprus problem is gaining strength on the Turkish side with a large number of people believing that formlising the independence of the TRNC is the best way to end the problem if there is no solution this time either. What’s more, Davutoğlu does not hide that they discussed “the recognition of TRNC” with Nami.

The writer concludes by saying that if all this is a tactical move aimed at pressuring the Greek Cypriot side into a solution, it is a useless, wrong approach that will not bring about the desired result.  

He adds it is impossible to legitimize the TRNC, which was established on territory, 80 per cent of which belongs to Greek Cypriots, who have been forced out at gunpoint. The Cyprus problem is not merely a problem of Turkish Cypriots’ integration into the world. It is also a problem of restoring the violated rights of Greek Cypriots. For this reason, what is expected of the Turkish side is not to try and corner the Greek Cypriot side, but to act with a sense of responsibility and put forward a federal solution, a solution based on the principle of a federal, democratic state, and the notion of a pluralistic community, not on the establishment of two separate “ethnic-ghettos” side by side.  

Applications to the IPC continue

In an interview with Turkish Cypriot daily Halkin Sesi, Gungor Gunkan, the chairman of the Immovable Property Commission established by Turkey in the north of Cyprus, says that more than 138 million pounds sterling have been paid out as compensation to Greek Cypriots to date.  He added that the Committee has over 5,000 pending applications, a number that is continuously rising. So far only 569 applications have been resolved.

He said that 671 applications which have not yet been examined concern properties in the closed city of Varosha. He noted that they are advising applicants with property in Varosha that the status of this city is part of a comprehensive solution of the Cyprus problem and that the Commission would act having this as starting point.

Gunkan said that many of the origina owners of property have passed away and that it is their inheritors who have been applying,  many of who do not even know where their property is and are only interested in compensation.

“The properties are becoming Turkish”, said Gunkan. “This means that in a possible solution they will not be mentioned as Greek land”.

Guncan noted that at the rate they are going “we will finish this job in 96 years. However, this is an enormous financial burden. Certainly, it cannot continue like this. I hope that the Cyprus problem will be solved with a political solution”.

Replying to another question, Gunkan said that all the properties in the occupied area of Cyprus, including the military zones, are under the responsibility of the so-called Immovable Property Commission and added that the army informs the commission about its views concerning property in military zones, but because most of the cases concern compensation of Greek Cypriot property that is located in military zones, the problem ceases to exist when the Greek Cypriot properties are purchased by the Commission .