New book calls for separate states as preferable to ‘disastrous’ bizonal bicommunal federation
A DETAILED argument in favour of partition is the theme of a book published last month by Greek Cypriot Dr Takis Georgiou, except nowhere in the pages of Plan B is the word ‘partition’ explicitly mentioned in any positive light.
Preferring to use the term an ‘independent Greek Cypriot state in the south of the island’, Georgiou argues that such an entity is preferable to the current ‘disastrous’ basis for the current intercommunal talks – a bizonal bicommunal federation.
Georgiou takes a famous quote by John Kenneth Galbraith – “Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable” – as a starting-point for arguing that “in our view, the bizonal bicommunal federation ‘solution’ is disastrous. Consequently, we are obliged to seek another choice, which in all probability will not be palatable, but at least will not be disastrous.”
Georgiou, a gynaecologist practising in Nicosia, argues that “taking all of the factors of the Cyprus problem into consideration, there is a very clear need for another strategy, one which is different to that of the federal ‘solution’.” Because the argument for separate states has not been discussed publicly, he believes “there is no clear-cut view within public opinion regarding the form, content and prospects for a clearly-defined Greek Cypriot State.”
Phileleftheros newspaper recently went some way towards plugging this perceived gap by distributing free copies of Plan B – which is available only in Greek – to its readers.
Starting with the book’s preface, a reader is left in no doubt about the author’s view of a solution based on a bizonal bicommunal federation. Georgiou asks: “But with this ‘solution’, will our occupied lands perhaps be finally and irrevocably lost? And worst of all, will this solution perhaps lead to the destruction and de-Hellenisation of our island?”
His concern, he says, is whether the so-called unification into a bizonal bicommunal federation will in “reality be the union of free Cyprus with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and if through the latter we will also see the union of Cyprus with Turkey”.
He then poses the crucial question of whether Greek Cypriots should consider another tactic which would “guarantee the security and survival of Hellenism in Cyprus?”
In a chapter entitled ‘The elements of our national question’, Georgiou argues that the Cypriot and Greek leaderships are trapped in the errors of the past, “which as time goes on is sinking us even deeper in the disastrous course of the bizonal bicommunal federation, even if this is not actually our leaders’ intention. In reality, it will be very difficult for the politicians and the political parties to do a 180-degree turn and follow the so-called ‘partition’ strategy, which they characterised as disastrous.”
Georgiou argues: “Of course, someone could ask themselves: What is a bizonal bicommunal federation, if not partition, when it cedes the occupied area to the Turks? Even worse, with the retention of [Turkey’s] rights to intervene, sugar-coated or not, the whole of Cyprus will continue to be a Turkish protectorate, with the result that the road will remain open for the Turkification of the whole of Cyprus.”
In his conclusion to the chapter entitled ‘What we give up and what we are left with under a bizonal bicommunal federation solution’, Georgiou writes that in reality, a bizonal bicommunal federation solution “will involve a racist form of government in a partitioned island, where 80 per cent of the Cypriot population will be governed by Turkey through the 20 per cent of Turkish Cypriots and settlers. In general, we give everything up in exchange for the supposed ‘unification of Cyprus’.”
The alternative strategy of a Greek Cypriot state, he says, would have all sovereign rights and privileges, free of any guarantors and right of intervention.
Two independent Cypriot states without third parties having rights of guarantee or intervention would halt Turkey’s expansionist intentions, he believes, arguing that a free independent Greek Cypriot state is feasible if a Turkish Cypriot constituent state is recognised in exchange.
Concluding his chapter on whether the creation of a Greek Cypriot state is feasible, Georgiou writes that “we can maintain that a small free homeland in the form of an independent Greek Cypriot state, which will be completely ours and will have the best chances of survival, is a thousand times better than a so-called ‘reunified’ bizonal bicommunal federal Cyprus that is doomed to failure.”
As far as Georgiou is concerned, a genuinely independent sovereign Greek Cypriot state will in the future be in the position of choosing between staying in the European Union, being outside the EU, achieving political union with Greece “in some federal or confederal form”, or even, “in the more remote future, nobody can rule out the creation of conditions that will allow the reunification of the two Cypriot states.”
He argues there are three major advantages in creating a Greek Cypriot state. First, it would be a clear-cut solution which does not carry within it a future danger of clashes and confrontations. Second, long-standing Greek-Turkish differences will lessen, a state of affairs providing for peaceful coexistence and co-operation between the two sides. Finally, it would mean that “the security and survival of Hellenism in Cyprus will be guaranteed to the largest possible degree”.
Georgiou’s concluding paragraph leaves no room for doubt.
“From whichever point of view we look at it, the strategic choice of creating a Greek Cypriot state with the abovementioned specifications and the simultaneous return of the maximum possible land, even in exchange for recognising the Turkish Cypriot constituent state, presents the best preconditions for the national and biological survival of Hellenism in Cyprus.”
