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Looking back to move towards the future - Cyprus

07 March 2008 11:14 (UTC +04:00)

On February 24, in the second round of the elections for the first time in the history of Greek Cyprus, a communist leader came to power â€“ Dimitris Christofias was elected the sixth president of the country.
This is not the only impact of Kosovo phenomenon on Dimitris Christofias. Fiasco of ultranationalist politician Tasos Papadopulos, who was left behind by the other two candidates in the first round of the presidential elections, was directly connected with the Kosovo developments. This was how the Greek Cypriots fearing that Kosovo lesson can be followed in Northern Cyprus, expressed their discontent with Tasos Papadopulos, who protested against Annan plan in 2004 and persuaded people to object to the unification of the island. 61-year-old Dimitris Christofias, candidate of communist AKEL (Progressive Party of the Working People of Cyprus) won 53.4 percent of the votes. The President got higher education and degree of Doctor of Science in Moscow 1969-74 and got acquainted with his future spouse in the Soviet Union. AKEL leader, realizing the reason of his victory over Tasos Papadopulos, underlined in his live speech:
â€œA new day starts tomorrow. We have a lot of difficulties. We will unite our forces and do our best to achieve reunification of our motherland.â€
The head of state ended his speech with the following words:
â€œLong live Cyprusâ€™ integrity, long live invincible Cypriots!â€
The idea on the unification of Cyprus Island is particularly underlined in all speeches of Dimitris Christofias. On February 28, after the inauguration ceremony, Christofias addressing the parliament underlined that reunification of Cyprus would be the main goal of his activity. President of Greek Cyprus called on the European Union to play a more active role in the solution of the problem.
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and Turkey have a plenty of expectations from Demetris Christofias. AKEL leader was only Greek Cypriot political figure supported Kofi Annanâ€™s plan in 2004, which considered federation of separate Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities of the island, but later he changed his position and moved to the ultranationalist camp. There is a long-term cooperation between Christofiasâ€™s AKEL party and Republican Turkish Party led by the President of Northern Cyprus Mehmet Ali Talat. It is clear that M.A.Talat, who prefers, unlike his predecessor Rauf Denktash, united federative Cyprus than confederation of independent or sovereign Greek and Turkish states, showed restraint to the D. Chritofiasâ€™s victory. â€We donâ€™t want the agreements to be refused at the final momentâ€.
Discussions over the Cyprus problem have already taken a second breath. Special Envoy of UN Secretary General on Cyprus Michael Mholler stated that Christofias and Talat would meet later in March. To New Greek Cypriot leader, July 8, 2006 agreements were taken into consideration as a starting point in the negotiations. In his opinion, Ankara has a key and problem can be solved if it satisfies Turkey. â€œI guarantee Turkish Cypriotsâ€™ equal rights as a citizen of united federal Republic of Cyprus. However, I would like to repeatedly emphasize that Turkish Cypriotsâ€™ rights would not be restored contrary to the rights of Greek, Maronite, Armenian and Latin Cypriots. Otherwise, the solution of Cyprus problem will be doomedâ€.
It has been already known that the negotiations would be difficult. Terms of Dimitris Christofias cover Turkeyâ€™s rejection from guarantee right on Cyprus, withdrawal of Turkish Armies from the island , Turks emigration from North of Cyprus, deprivation of Turkish community from veto right. Leader of North Cyprus noted that they guided by Annan Plan and stated that they had not put forth terms.
â€œWe are against for confederation plan basing on the two countries,â€ he said. He noted that Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) could become â€œCyprus Turkish Stateâ€œ under Cyprus Federation.
All sides are interested in the result of negotiations on Cyprus. It is right that each side has its different and original arguments. Greek regime of Cyprus desires to combine the island. Greek community, which accepted Kosovo experiment as a precedent understands that North Cyprus that remained unrecognized state since 1974 has more chance for recognition compared with previous years.
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) estimates substitution of Tassos Papadopoulos with moderate leader as a green light in front of the participation of Turkish community in the Federation and end of isolation policy. To become Federative subject of unit Cyprus promises to North Cyprus to join EU and develop its economy.
Turkey hopes for it. Negotiations on the membership to EU were frozen because of Cyprus problem and several issues from 20 ones have been discussed to date. Croatia commenced negotiations for membership to EU at the same time with Turkey and it starts integrating into EU in 2011.The solution to Cyprus will rescue Turkish economy from additional heaviness and will help for the creation Turkish factor in EU. Integration of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus into EU is a declaration of Turkish language as an official language of Europe.
In any case, the sides should go for compromise. Possibility or impossibility of compromise is not an issue of primary importance, but how the sides will go for compromise. /APA-Analytics/