Sir,
Unfortunately, your editorials have become all too predictable in relation to Cyprus (“Engaging Turkey”, 8 September 2009). The Cyprus problem has been reduced to a caricature in which the Greek Cypriots are invariably portrayed as the “ugly bunch”. The next step will be to depict Turkey as the ‘Dove of Peace’ in Cyprus and the re-writing of history will be complete.
Turkey’s role in Cyprus cannot so easily be airbrushed out of the picture though. For more than 35 years, Turkey has defied the will of the international community with impunity in relation to Cyprus. This country has continued to act in breach of numerous United Nations resolutions and the UN Charter and has, similarly, continued to disregard numerous judicial rulings by international courts.
The facts on the ground in Cyprus cannot be swept under the carpet so that Turkey’s European aspirations can advance: for more than 35 years, more than 40,000 Turkish troops have continued to occupy the northern part of the island, a country with a total population of less than a million people. During this period, Turkey has created, in the occupied area, an illegal regime which no one in the world other than Turkey recognises. What is more, the Turkish army has presided over a deliberate policy of colonisation in the area it occupies in order to change the demography of the island. Turkish nationals transferred from Asia Minor to settle land belonging to the legal inhabitants of the island now significantly outnumber indigenous Turkish Cypriots living in the occupied area. During the same period, Cypriot properties in the occupied north have been usurped and are exploited for economic gain, while the cultural and religious heritage of the island in those areas is being actively desecrated and destroyed. Additionally, to his day, Turkey refuses to investigate hundreds of cases of people who went missing during its military invasion, contrary to rulings of the European Court of Human Rights which Turkey blatantly disregards.
I am pragmatic enough to know that geostrategic and economic interests colour your judgment in this matter, but the truth is that the Cyprus problem could relatively easily be resolved on the basis of European and international law provided that Turkey changes its intransigent and anachronistic position. A reunited and democratic homeland without armies of occupation and lines of division, in which all Cypriots can live as free European citizens without the fear of foreign military intervention by an aggressive neighbour, is the only sensible way forward and the best incentive that can be offered to both communities on the island.
I have always been supportive of Turkey’s eventual membership of the European Union as have the governments of the UK, Greece and Cyprus but this cannot happen for as long as Turkey does not abide by its obligations to the Union. The reunification of Cyprus and Turkey’s acceptance of a truly independent and reunited Cyprus are prerequisites to Turkish entry and would do more to facilitate this than any other single factor. The benefits which would flow from this scenario would be huge for all interested parties and for the entire region.
Peter Droussiotis
Federation President
Britannia Road, London N12 9RU
www.cypriotfederation.org.uk
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