'Cyprus peace in crisis..' - Times article

[Hector]

In todays Times (21st July) 'Cypriot peace in crisis as Erdogan backs two-state solution'

https://bit.ly/3znGYZl

[Trigger]

Thanks for that but it’s behind a paywall. Any chance you can copy n paste it please?

[benjaminbutton]

I have noticed occasionally lately that if you gently ease the article upwards you can gradually slide and read the whole piece. Only works from time to time though but I always give it a try on the off chance.

[erol]

Thanks for that but it’s behind a paywall. Any chance you can copy n paste it please?

Ill take the risk of being sued for copyright breach or having my account suspended for you Trigger.

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from thetimes.co.uk website

Cypriot peace in crisis as Erdogan backs two-state solution
Hannah Lucinda Smith, Nicosia
Tuesday July 20 2021, 5.40pm BST, The Times

President Erdogan of Turkey has ripped up the Cypriot peace process by backing plans for a two-state solution under which the Turkish-speaking north would apply for international recognition, stamping out the last embers of hope for a reunified island.

The Turkish leader attacked the EU and US in a series of speeches and pledged that Turkey “will not wait another 50 years”, a reference to the UN-backed negotiations.

Erdogan was in north Cyprus for a two-day visit for the 47th anniversary of the Turkish army landing on the Mediterranean island during the war of 1974. The north is recognised as a sovereign state only by Ankara, meaning that it relies on Turkish subsidies.


In recent years Erdogan has increasingly flexed his political muscle there. His visit was designed to boost Ersin Tatar, the nationalist president of north Cyprus who was elected in October with Ankara’s backing and who opposes reunification with the Greek-speaking south.

The decades-old dispute over rights to underwater gas around the island, in which Turkish Cypriots cannot share, lies at the heart of Erdogan’s belligerence with the EU— including Greece and Cyprus — and the United States.

Osman Ertug, an adviser to Tatar, said that independence was the only route left for Turkish Cypriots. He added: “The other side has proved itself unwilling to share power and wealth. The Greek Cypriots are using the peace process as a smokescreen to maintain the status quo.

Yet Erdogan’s visit often seemed to be directed as much to his voters as to Turkish Cypriots. He is battling falling ratings fuelled by an economic crisis and must find a way to revive his base before elections in 2023. Cyprus, a popular cause among Turkish nationalists, fits the bill.

The arrival of his huge entourage, which included his wife, Emine, several ministers, and dozens of guards and armoured vehicles shipped in from the mainland, brought much of the holiday island to a standstill. Billboards had been pasted up at the airport and along the highway into the northern half of the divided capital Nicosia, showing Erdogan’s face in front of a Turkish flag alongside a slogan of good wishes on Peace and Freedom Day. Many homeowners had hung Turkish flags and pictures of Erdogan over their balconies.

The presidential party stayed in the newly opened Concorde, a luxury hotel and casino on the outskirts of the capital. On Tuesday, the first day of Eid al-Adha, he performed prayers in a 3,000-capacity mosque close to the city that has been built with Turkish funding. He also performed a public meet-and-greet in the old city of Nicosia — these days a rare occurrence back in Turkey.

In a speech to the north Cyprus parliament he said that a new presidential palace would be built in Nicosia by his architects, to replace the British buildings currently used. Erdogan referred to the British colonial era structures as gecekondu, a Turkish expression for illegally built shanty towns. “This is the expression of being a state. By realising this project, people will be forced to see what sort of a northern Cyprus state there is,” he added.

In a separate speech at a large military parade Erdogan said that regeneration work would begin in the resort of Varosha, once a playground of the rich and famous but since 1974 a closed military zone, with hotels falling into disrepair along its white sand beach.

Days before the last round of the north Cyprus elections, Tatar, who was then prime minister, unexpectedly reopened the resort, a move that helped nudge him to victory but also inflamed tensions with the south, since many properties are owned by Greek Cypriots. The UN has ruled that Varosha should not be reinhabited by anyone other than its original residents, and issued a statement in October calling on Turkey to reverse the reopening.

Erdogan dismissed those concerns.

“The games have been foiled and the mould has been broken regarding the Cyprus issue. I congratulate President Tatar and his government for the resolute stance they have been displaying concerning the Maras [Varosha] issue, despite all the counter-propaganda carried out by the Greek side,” he said.

The military parade, held every year on July 20, was this year a showcase for Turkey’s defence industry, which is expanding rapidly with state backing. Fighter jets and helicopters flew low over a crowd of several hundred spectators and dignitaries including generals, politicians and religious leaders. In the crowd people waved placards with pictures of Erdogan and Tatar, as well as Turkish and north Cypriot flags. Most were from the community of Turkish settlers who moved to Cyprus from the mainland after 1974, and now outnumber Turkish Cypriots according to some estimates.

“I have been coming for 30 years, I come for the love of country and state,” said Resit Duzce, 52, who was in the crowd with his family. “Tayyip Erdogan is great — he is the world leader. He helps us in everything, when we get nothing from other countries.”

Others in north Cyprus disagree, however. Two pro-unification parties boycotted Erdogan’s speech to the parliament, meaning that only 35 of the 50 deputies were present. Although there were no organised protests against his visit, many Turkish Cypriots say they felt uneasy about Turkey’s growing power in their country and the implications that would have for a settlement with the south.

“Turkey is using Cyprus as a bargaining chip in bigger regional politics,” Kemal Baykalli, an activist with the campaign group Unite Cyprus Now, said.

“Who will penalise Turkey for this? The international community will probably just try to contain Erdogan, and he has nothing to lose by raising the bets. More Turkish companies will invest here, those that are pro-AKP [Erdogan’s party] will control more sectors,” he addded.

“They call this a frozen conflict . . . but tensions can always rise again.”

Strongman’s intervention ‘inevitable’ on island left in limbo
By the time Turkish paratroopers dropped onto the northern coast of Cyprus in the sweltering summer of 1974, the island had been wracked by internecine violence for years. Hundreds of Turkish Cypriots were murdered by Greek nationalists in the early 1960s, and so when the Greek army launched a coup in Cyprus in 1974, the stage was primed for a wider conflict.

Thousands were killed in a few bloody weeks before the island was divided in a hastily arranged ceasefire that still shapes it nearly half a century on. Various luminaries have tried and failed to reunite Cyprus, most notably Kofi Annan, whose plan failed when it was rejected by the Greek Cypriots — although accepted by the Turkish Cypriot side — in 2004.

The failure had a huge effect on President Erdogan, who had been pushing for it to be accepted. His disillusionment with international diplomacy was compounded by the fact that the south was then accepted into the EU, even though settlement was meant to be a pre-condition of membership. The Turkish leader, according to insiders, began to view the Europeans as hypocrites suffering from a large dose of anti-Turkishness.

Today Erdogan has completely reversed his position on Cyprus. Having once supported reunification, in part due to his desires to take Turkey into the EU, he is now a leader who insists on forging his own path. His spats with Greece and Cyprus play well at home, and these days he finds it more expedient to alienate the West than to keep it onside.

Erdogan’s full-throated support for a two-state solution whips the rug out from the already stuttering UN-backed talks, which are predicated on a federal arrangement. They collapsed in 2017, restarting this year only for Tatar to call immediately for formal separation. It is unlikely they can be brought back on track for the forseeable future.

Many Turkish Cypriots are dismayed that the situation is being turned into a chip in Erdogan’s wider regional game but say this was inevitable when they have been left in limbo for so long — a frozen conflict where people take holidays in a territory stymied by embargos and underdevelopment. Sooner or later, the strongman was going to march into the picture.

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[Trigger]

Thanks Erol

Was an interesting read. I don’t really do politics, I tend to steer away from such conversation. I just wish everybody could respect each other, allow them to live their lives as they wish and for Cyprus to be one. As someone one who has fallen in love with the island, I enjoy the culture and people of both sides. We just wish everyone could get on as friends / neighbours etc. Sadly, I am not sure it will happen, or at least in our lifetime. It’s a massive shame as I think the country would be much stronger collectively.

[erol]

Thanks Erol

Was an interesting read. I don’t really do politics,

Not read it myself. Yet. Bit TLDR atm

and for Cyprus to be one.

I hear you. How I hear you.

As someone one who has fallen in love with the island, I enjoy the culture and people of both sides.

As someone who is a mix of cultures anyway my Cypriot me not only enjoys both cultures (and marionite and latin). I see them as an essential part of what makes 'Cypriot'. For me it is the very mix that makes us something unique and different from the cultures that are in that mix. Now that is not to say Cypriot culture is better than any of the individual parts that make it up or any other for that matter. Just different and unique. To me a fundamental part of what it means to 'be' Cypriot means to have grown up in such a mixed culture environment that existed that way for centauries.
I lament every degree of loss of that mix in the same way I lament the loss of the dodo. Something unique that is being lost forever.

Sadly, I am not sure it will happen, or at least in our lifetime.

Let's put it this way I have not got and would not put any money on it as a 'longshot' like I might with say a cryptocurrency Having said that my lifetime to date of pain so far has not stop me believing. Believing that it is possible no matter how long a shot it is. I'll back a longshot emotionally if not fiscally on the basis that if you do not believe it is possible even as a longshot you guarantee it is not possible by choice.

It’s a massive shame as I think the country would be much stronger collectively.

The potential 'peace dividend' on so many levels, if done 'right' is massive. imho.

[sausage and pash]

Ok!!! Donkey years ago my mother and father set wedding date. Invitations sent out. Caterers arranged. THEN....priest in church said you cant get married as, mother was catholic and father was church of scotland. They had to go to bishop of southark to get special dispensation and i had to be brought up in catholic environment. Dad agreed. But in religion, each to their own. We have had same problem with south and north ireland. In mind...life is too short so just enjoy. Maybe i am nieave. Sorry cant spell that word. Jxx

[iancrumpy]

I don’t really do politics. I just wish ... (amongst other things) ... for Cyprus to be one.

Hi Trigger,
For someone who doesn't do politics, wanting Cyprus "to be one" is unfortunately going to upset quite a few people, not least on this forum ... the main reason being most of the land around Girne, especially in "Lapitos", was formerly GC land.

[EnjoyingTheSun]

It’s a shame but I think a two state solution is the only way forward.

[Trigger]

If I upset anybody by wishing for everybody to get along peacefully, then I apologise. That wasn’t my intention. This is why I try to stay clear of politics.

Thanks for your response Erol.

[iancrumpy]

If I upset anybody by wishing for everybody to get along peacefully, then I apologise. That wasn’t my intention.

I hear you Trigger. My TC in-laws and I would also like for the island to become one, but re-unification would almost certainly open the floodgates for more cases similar to that of Apostolides v Orams