NICOSIA, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Cyprus’ president said on Wednesday he was ready to immediately resume reunification talks over the ethnically divided island, urging regional rival Turkey to also engage in the effort.
“We cannot change geography. It is an opportunity, not a curse. Turkey and Cyprus will always remain neighbours,” Nikos Christodoulides said in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
“I adamantly believe we can carve a new path, one of peace, cooperation and collaboration,” he said.
Cyprus was split decades ago in a Turkish invasion after a brief Greek-inspired coup, and preceded by years of sporadic violence between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.
Reunification talks collapsed in mid-2017 and have been at a stalemate since.
A Turkish Cypriot breakaway state in northern Cyprus, backed only by Turkey, wants a two-state deal where its sovereignty is recognised. Greek Cypriots say the only framework available is that defined by U.N. resolutions calling for reunification under a bizonal, bicommunal federation.
“I am committed and I am ready to sit at the negotiating table today. Not tomorrow. Today,” Christodoulides said.
On Tuesday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told the U.N. General Assembly that the federation model “has now completely lost its validity”, saying there were “two separate states and two separate peoples” on the island.
“The sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriots, which are their inherent rights, should be reaffirmed, and the isolation should now come to an end,” he said.
He later told U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres that a meeting between the sides under the auspices of the U.N. to discuss models other than a federation could help, his office said
It’s important to note that South were the ones refusing unification with North Cyprus first; a referandum was held in both countries to unify both countries as one, where North Cyprus had the majority vote to unite but South Cyprus didn’t.
A solution where any of the residents living there are not considered citizens is not a peaceful solution.
I mean anything is possible if one side is basically ignored. The UN Plan offered was just terrible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annan_Plan
The only reason it even got to where it got was because Turkey wanted to join the EU and Greece wanted to normalize relations with Turkey. But ultimately, Cyprus(greekcypriot state) is an independent and democratic state, so it decided against it(and Greece follows whatever Cyprus decides).
If Turkey was a normal country, you could say that all the disadvantages of the plan wouldnt be relevant in the long term. But Turkey is a mini-Russia and as Russia has shown us, appeasing nations with imperial ambitions doesnt work in the long run.
Imagine any european leader saying to their neighbours “We could come one night”. Or “our neighbours are scared because our missiles can reach their capital”. Both statements were said by Erdogan. Only in the last year, he has chilled, mostly because of the invasion in Ukraine. For once, the West did something good, instead of writing “stern letters” so Erdogan is afraid that the West might actually military support Greece in case of a turkish invasion.
Also because Greece is getting f-35 jets and Turkey needs american engines for their homegrown ghetto “f-35” equivalent(so the US told him to shut up and be nice or else no engines for their “f-35” or upgraded f-16).
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It’s very complicated because Turkey are the invaders, but they invaded in response to an illegal Coup orchestrated by Greece, so, even if I’m partial to Greece because it’s the more “normal” country I don’t see a fair solution for the issue.