A Chance to Reunify Cyprus

A barrier along the Green Line in Nicosia, the last divided capital of Europe.

Πηγή: New York Times
By MICHAEL MOLLER
April 2 2013

It has often been said that Cyprus never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity. This maxim was being bandied about especially after the negative Greek Cypriot vote on reunification in 2004. Life was good in their south of the island then and there was no apparent cost to sticking with the status quo.

A new reality has now imposed itself on the Greek Cypriots. The situation is dire and the immediate future does not look encouraging unless imaginative solutions are found. I firmly believe those solutions are now within reach.

Here’s why. Economic and social conditions in the Turkish-controlled north are improving, creating a more level playing field between the two sides. Turkey is now an increasingly important player both regionally and internationally, and a major anchor of stability in a turbulent region.

The ties between Turkey and Greece are now closer and friendlier, changing the framework within which the Cyprus problem has traditionally been viewed.

Greece’s economic woes have changed its priorities. Its orientation is firmly anchored in Europe, and it is a steadfast supporter of Turkish accession to the European Union. At the same time, the high price Cyprus is now paying for its past symbiotic financial relationship with Greece may affect their future relationship.

These new realities — good and bad — offer an opportunity to move forward on the long-sought solution for Cyprus.

Five years ago, the Cyprus center of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) published some startling assertions on the monetary benefits that would come within the first year of reunification. PRIO’s conservative estimate was that every Cypriot family would get an extra €2,500 per year.

While the context has changed, the conclusion that reunification would bring increased prosperity would probably be similar today.

The new Greek Cypriot president, with his solid pro-unification credentials, is well placed to propose bold measures toward a unified island with a greater common prosperity. And the Turkish Cypriot leadership is now in a stronger position than ever to negotiate a solution on more equal terms.

Turkey’s European aspirations can no longer be denied. But part of that road goes through Cyprus, and the sooner that problem is solved, the sooner Turkey can be welcomed as a full member of a stronger and more integrated Europe.

The European Union can no longer afford to consider Cyprus an irritating peripheral problem. Cyprus is part of Europe and as such, especially now, very much a European problem.

It is time for a solid, united and active European policy and commitment to the reunification of the island based on a clear and shared conviction that it is in everyone’s vital interest.

If not, we are looking at another bailout down the road and the risk of triggering further catastrophic consequences for the integrity of the European construct.

However the fate of the European Union plays out, there are undeniable benefits in ensuring strong partnerships within the southern Mediterranean basin. The different economies and security, energy, water and other needs can only be strengthened through closer union.

The United Nations has been a steady presence in the daily lives of Cypriots for almost 50 years. But it too must take heed of the new realities and realign its strategies.

Cyprus has plenty of assets — geographical location, natural resources, a well-educated populations, infrastructure and now, once again in its long and tortured history, the attention of the international community.

It is time to put them to good use.

Michael Moller is a former United Nations special representative for Cyprus.

Northern Cyprus to outline new gas exploration plan-Eroglu

Πηγή: Reuters
By Daniel Bases
Sept 26 2012

Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu said on Tuesday he would present a new plan to the U.N. secretary-general for gas explorations surrounding the divided island, resources that could change its economic landscape.

"I am planning to present a plan to the secretary-general, a proposal, a new one on the gas exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbon reserves," Eroglu said through a translator of his scheduled Saturday meeting with Ban Ki-moon.

Eroglu, speaking in the unrecognized nation's offices housed within Turkey's mission to the United Nations, would not provide details when pressed about his ideas.

Northern Cyprus signed an agreement with state-run Turkish Petroleum Corporation, or TPAO, in April to launch onshore exploratory drilling.

In the next five or six months, TPAO is expected to start drilling offshore to see if it can find gas deep in the eastern Mediterranean, said Eroglu, who was in New York for the United National General Assembly meeting.

The island has been divided since 1974, when the Turkish military invaded after a short-lived Greek Cypriot coup engineered by the military junta then in power in Athens.

Turkey was outraged last year when the internationally recognized government of Cyprus, led by Demetris Christofias, licensed Texas-based Noble Energy to explore an offshore block for natural gas in what it said was one of the biggest finds in years.

If the gas discovered by Greek Cypriots is proven reliable, it could end their dependency on energy imports and make them self-sufficient for decades.

"I have already warned Mr. Christofias at the table that if you start your drilling activities, then we will engage in our own drilling activities in the waters around Cyprus," Eroglu said.

After the announcement between the Greek Cypriots, a member of the European Union, and Noble Energy, Ankara dispatched naval ships to accompany its own seismic research vessel to explore in waters 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from the Cyprus drill site.

Cyprus holds the rotating presidency of the EU through the end of the year.

Hydrocarbons could provide financial relief to both sides of the divided island.

ISOLATED NORTH

Greek Cypriots were forced to seek aid from the International Monetary Fund and the EU in June to prop up their banks, which were badly exposed to debt-crippled Greece.

Turkish Cypriots living north of a buffer zone are economically and political isolated, relying on financial handouts from Ankara.

Turkey still keeps about 30,000 troops in the north and is the only nation that recognizes the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Greek and Turkish Cypriots agree in principle on reuniting the island as a federation but differ on how it would work. Their lack of progress forced the U.N.'s Ban to scrap plans in April for an international conference on Cyprus.

Eroglu's intention to bring a gas exploration plan to Ban is aimed at reviving negotiations.

Eroglu said he proposed using whatever is earned from any gas or oil to finance a reunification settlement.

"That under the secretary-general's direction there should be an escrow fund for collecting this revenue so that it could be used for financing the settlement," Eroglu said.

Direct talks between the leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriots have been on hold for several months, partly because of a Greek Cypriot poll in 2013 to elect a new president and their EU presidency.

Christofias, who is the EU's only communist head of state, said in May he would not seek re-election citing the lack of progress toward reunification.

The head of the opposition Democratic Rally Party, Nicos Anastassiades, is a prime contender to win the election. Eroglu has said he could work with Anastassiades in the two years before his own term ends in April 2015.

"It is not easy to tell if there will be an agreement or not," Eroglu said. "If we were to judge him on the basis of the statements that he is making today, it appears that he wants to take back even the concessions, he says, made by Mr. Christofias.

"But we have to take this as campaign rhetoric at the moment."

Turkey seeks conservative Turkish Cyprus: opposition

This file photo shows students of a divinity high school in Turkey. N Cyprus’s first divinity high school will open soon. 

Πηγή: Hurriyet Daily News
By Hüseyin Hayatsever
Sept 14 2012

Turkey’s ruling party is taking steps to build a more conservative society in northern Cyprus, the leader of Turkish Cyprus’s main opposition party has said, accusing the Turkish Cypriot administration of turning a blind eye to such efforts in order to keep their seats.

“[The Turkish government] is making efforts to introduce its conservative influence in northern Cyprus. Divinity schools have been opened in northern Cyprus, which is unprecedented, although our legislation does not allow such schools. Our government is turning a blind eye to these developments for the sake of remaining in their posts. This situation sparks fury among the Turkish Cypriot people,” Özkan Yorgancıoğlu, leader of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), told the Hürriyet Daily News.

Northern Cyprus’s first divinity college will begin its educational program this school year, following the opening of a divinity faculty at Near East University in the 2011-2012 school year. Critics in Northern Cyprus have spoken out against the introduction of divinity schools, relating the development to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s remarks in which he vowed to “raise a pious generation.”

The ruling National Unity Party (UBP) is tied to Turkish government’s apron strings at the moment, Yorgancıoğlu said.

“The UBP is incapable of taking a firm stand on the impositions the AKP is making. Thus, the Turkish government has had the chance to do whatever it wants without objection from the Northern Cypriot administration. But we cannot accept this situation,” he said.

Talks between the Greek and Turkish sides of Cyprus to resolve the decades-old problems there will probably speed up after the upcoming elections in Greek Cyprus, Yorgancıoğlu said, favoring the reunification of the island as the ultimate goal.

The CTP leader also elaborated on the option of annexing Turkish Cyprus to Turkey. “There is no legal basis for annexation,” Yorgancıoğlu said, “But they can create a de facto annexation.”

Turkey to drill for new oil in Cyprus

Energy Minister Taner Yıldız

Πηγή: Daily News
August 15 2012

ISTANBUL, The Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) is set to begin searching for oil in a new field in Turkish Cyprus, Energy Minister Taner Yıldız said yesterday during his visit to an oil well operated by TPAO in the southeastern province of Adıyaman.

“We will continue working there. God willing, I believe we will accomplish a result there sooner or later,” the Anatolia news agency quoted Yıldız as saying yesterday.

TPAO started drilling for gas and oil in Famagusta, a province of Turkish Cyprus, in late April. Greek Cyprus started exploring for gas in the Mediterranean Sea south of the island in September 2011, a move to which Turkey reacted harshly. Turkey and Turkish Cyprus then signed a deal paving the way for oil and gas exploration in the region.

The amount of crude oil produced in Turkey is about 18 million barrels a year, 22 percent, or 3.6 million barrels, of which comes from Adıyaman, Yıldız said. “The value of the oil [that comes from Adıyaman] is around $400 million,” he said.

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus renamed

Πηγή: Trend
May 29 2012


The Cabinet of Ministers of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus took a decision to rename it to the Turkish Republic of Cyprus, the Milliyet newspaper reported.

The relevant decision was taken by the Cabinet of Ministers on May 23. Also, along with the renaming of the republic, other decisions relating to the country's citizens were taken. By the government's decision, now "the Cypriot Turk" will be written in the column "origin" of citizens' identity cards.

According to the newspaper, the decision was made in response to presidency of the Republic of Cyprus (Greek) in the European Union, which started from July 1.