AKEL General Secretary article on the Cyprus problem “Before its too late

Before it’s too late…
Article by Stefanos Stefanou, General Secretary of the Central Committee of AKEL
Sunday 1 August 2021, weekly ‘Kathimerini’ newspaper
What Turkey is doing, namely creating new serious fait accompli on the Cyprus problem, is both unacceptable and provocative, but also entirely predictable. It was to be expected that it would proceed to impose them from the moment it was not assigned any responsibility for the stalemate on the Cyprus problem. Turkey did the same in previous periods of the Cyprus problem as well, even when responsibilities it simply wasn’t being apportioned responsibilities, let alone now that for the first time Turkey has received praise from the Secretary General as well for its stance at Crans Montana.
The Greek Cypriot side should have been prepared for this. But once again it wasn’t, given that the government considered the Turkish threats (on Varosha) as “bluffing” and “communication games”. It evidently did not draw lessons from what preceded the Turkish provocative and illegal actions in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Republic of Cyprus. Even then, the government ruling forces attributed the threats issued to “communication games”, but Turkey proceeded to carry out its threats.
The fait accompli Turkey is imposing are the result of the non-solution of the Cyprus problem and the absence of any negotiations, combined with it being absolved of responsibility. The reactions of the Greek Cypriot side and the Republic of Cyprus in general to the violation of the relevant UN Resolutions are both necessary and imperative, together with representations to the international community demanding the condemnation of Turkey’s actions.
However, these actions are not capable of changing the situation so long as the source of the problems – that is to say the Turkish occupation – remains. If, under the pressure of international reaction, Turkey does not finally proceed with fulfilling its promises now, it may do so in the period ahead, taking advantage of another time frame. Turkey always has the luxury of time in its favor, a factor it exploits with persistence and patience to consolidate the occupation until it will make partition inevitable and definitive.
In the face of this tactic of the occupying power and in view of the escalation of its actions to consolidate partition, there is only one feasible way out for the Greek Cypriot side: it should focus on the effort for the resumption of the negotiations from the point where they had remained in 2017 on the basis of the UN Secretary General’s Framework and the safeguarding of the convergences that have been recorded.
The President of the Republic says that is precisely what he is doing, but he is not convincing the international community because he himself has already withdrawn important convergences on political equality, the political/government system and on federal competences by insisting on decentralized federation.
The President’s positions clash with his empty declarations that he wants to resume the talks from where they were interrupted, thus undermining his credibility. Even his close associates point out the deficit in his credibility and trustworthiness that exists and this should at least have given him cause for concern. Instead, the President continues on the same path, which leaves room for Turkey to proceed in its actions without any real cost.
It is of course unacceptable for the Turkish side to set the acceptance of sovereign equality as a precondition for the resumption of negotiations, and the President is correctly rejecting it.
However, from there onwards what is he doing? Instead of taking a step forward, by assuming a clear political initiative, he limits himself to putting forth his proposal for a discussion of Confidence Building Measures (CBM’s) which the international community does not share. It is significant that the UN Secretary General does not even mention the President’s proposal in his latest report. The formula of grandiose CBM’s was also tried in 1993 and failed, leading to a deadlock in the procedure. Instead of discussing the substance then, we were discussing CBM’s. What has to be done today is the discussion of the substance in order to reach a solution.
Today we have the following scenario: the Turkish side insists on sovereign equality and the Greek Cypriot side insists on CBM’s. The stalemate continues and there doesn’t appear to be any prospect of resuming negotiations on the horizon. Turkey and all those who are promoting partition benefit from this situation. It is clear that something different must be done. AKEL has a proposal about what else can be done. It is a proposal that can get the Greek Cypriot side out of the corner.
Our proposal, which we gave to the President of the Republic last December, has two parts. The first concerns the resumption of talks as discussed above, while the second meets the position of the UN on making use of hydrocarbons to act as a catalyst for a solution. This fact gives our proposal credibility vis-à-vis the international community. If the President moves in the direction proposed by AKEL, then he will gain the credibility that he currently does not have and he will become convincing as regards his will for a solution. Turkey will come under pressure to respond to the Greek Cypriot side’s move and will either do so, with the result that either negotiations will resume or it will be exposed as the intransigent party.
Whether this proposal will yield results or not we cannot know in advance. But what we do know for sure is that if it is adopted, it will create a new momentum and put the Greek Cypriot side at the helm of initiatives.
Our own conscience cannot withstand to see Cyprus gradually and torturously trapped in Ankara’s plans. We hope that no one’s conscience can bear it and that the President, who is responsible for any moves and handlings on the Cyprus problem, will do what he has to do before it is absolutely too late, as we are just a breath away from the final partition of Cyprus.
Does the President realise this?