EVERY time I read a new report about the Cyprus problem by the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank one question comes to mind. Have the members of the Group not figured us out yet?
All the time that the ICG has been dealing with Cyprus, has it not yet realised we are not interested in a settlement and that it was wasting its time suggesting steps in the direction of an agreement. Is it not futile trying to persuade someone to adopt suggestions aimed at achieving a result he does not want to be achieved?
The work the Group’s analysts prepare every so often is based on rational thought and makes the assumption that the people they are addressing – that is, us – would sit and carefully study it, in order to make good use of it. Somehow, they have not grasped the fact that rationality is the last thing that the politicians of this country take into account.
This brings me to an even bigger query. They have studied our antics for so long, how could they not have understood that in this country irrationality reigns supreme? I genuinely feel sorry for all the effort they make and unreservedly advise them to give up because they are wasting their time. There are so many other serious problems in the world that deserve the ICG’s attention.
In its latest report (February 19), the Group carries out an objective evaluation of what had happened since the current talks procedure commenced. Observing that the procedure had reached a standstill the Group suggests a series of steps that could give a push towards a settlement.
These steps include the opening of Turkish ports and airports to the Republic, direct trade between the Turkish Cypriots and the EU through Famagusta port, opening of chapters for Turkey’s accession negotiations, return of Famagusta to Greek Cypriots, start of chartered flights to the north, the creation of a mechanism for registering all the military forces and citizens currently in Cyprus and co-operation of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot administrative bodies as well as meetings between Greek Cypriot and Turkish officials. The steps also envisaged some mediation by the European Commission and the EU presidency.
An observer from the outside could find these measures balanced and useful for moving closer to a settlement, but he would be ignoring the reality mentioned above – that the leadership and the large majority of the Greek Cypriots are not interested in a settlement. For them, the best solution is the current status quo. The writers of the ICG report are not capable of comprehending this insanity.
This is why that further down in the report they said: “The Greek Cypriots are the first to concede that – isolated on the EU’s eastern edge and next to Turkey’s coast – they need the security that would be guaranteed by an Ankara willing and able to integrate with the EU.”
This political wisdom does not hold sway with us. Nobody would notice that behind this observation was a warning about the fate that could befall the island in the future, because of its geographical position, if the confrontation with Turkey continued. But alas we do not have serious politicians, liable to understand this warning.
The real problem in Cyprus is that we are governed by a clique of ruthless demagogues who have built their political careers on nice-sound slogans and idiotic rhetoric. To whom was the ICG appealing? Can it not comprehend that rationality has no place in a country in which demagoguery is main currency of political debate?
