The decision yesterday by the rival leaders of ethnically divided Cyprus, Greek Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus President Rauf Denktash, to begin intensive talks is rightly seen by analysts as a last-ditch effort to end decades of bitter differences. The two men have known each other since they both trained as lawyers in London, 50 years ago. They also know each other’s arguments off by heart. Therefore, the talks that they have just agreed to conduct, without preconditions, three times a week, are unlikely to include haranguing matches in which each side rehearses its argument.
More likely, according to those who say the two men are almost friends, they will, after some reminiscing, settle down to seeing how they can unravel the political tangle which they and their communities have got themselves into. First off, they should accept that there is no further danger of union with Greece. Then they must agree that economic life for the two communities will only improve if they can end the confrontation. The Republic of Cyprus, with its ethnic Greek government, is poised on the first step of European Union membership, which could become a reality as early as 2004. Denktash must calculate the position of his Turkish Cypriot community, once the other two-third of the island becomes part of the EU. Could he or his successor in three years’ time parley a better deal directly from Brussels, which would bring about the island’s reunion with strong European guarantees? It is an option which he will have considered.
What is certainly no longer any sort of option is for Denktash to use a settlement of the island’s divisions to hold up EU membership. Brussels has made it clear that it will press ahead, regardless of the lack of a lasting solution between the two communities. It has also made it clear to Ankara that Turkey’s own EU membership ambitions will rise or fall by the success of a negotiated peace in Cyprus.
Though in the last 28 years, Rauf Denktash has not been afraid of tweaking the Turkey’s nose when it suited him, it hardly seems conceivable that he would risk an independent line now. Many mainland Turks, though proud of the 1974 intervention in Cyprus, are now fed up with the high political and financial cost of sustaining the economically unviable Republic of Northern Cyprus. They want a solution that will free Turkey to get on with shaping its own economic destiny, close to, if not actually a part of, the European Union.
So, as these two old Cypriots will probably appreciate that the causes for which they once fought each other are no longer important. What they have to do now is to find a way to let their two communities reintegrate, with protection and respect for the rights of both. By cutting a deal now, Denktash will put the Turkish Cypriots at the EU negotiating table and will be able to build safeguards for them into the accession treaty.
Clerides and Denktash represent two communities wearied by the confrontation of an entire generation. At this moment of great change and substantial opportunity, they will benefit all Cypriots, if they can find a formula that will cut the knot that has held the island apart. We must wish their talks well.
