Cyprus is closer than ever to ending its four-decade-old partition and the two sides could agree on the text of a deal by May, followed by a referendum, the north’s ‘foreign minister’ has said.
“We are cautiously optimistic. We think we are closer than we have ever been before,” Emine Colak, told Reuters in an interview.
“We don’t think the Cyprus problem has got easy – it hasn’t but we think we have a window of opportunity,” Colak said. “It is possible and it is desirable to get to at least the major part of the negotiations and the agreed text by May 2016.”
New impetus was given to the island’s on-off peace process by the election of moderate Mustafa Akinci as Turkish Cypriot leader in May.
Asked if there could be a referendum on unification in early 2016, Colak said: “I wouldn’t think early 2016 but maybe within 2016 – I don’t see any reason why not.”
“On both sides, the political leadership, the political will is on the side of resolving it this time if we possibly can,” said Colak, a 57-year-old human rights lawyer educated at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies.
Unifying the island would spur investment, open up the Turkish Cypriot side to more tourism, allow direct flights from most of Europe to the north and help stem a brain drain from the north.
On paper, the two sides agree on reuniting Cyprus as a bizonal bicommunal federation. But Colak cautioned there were hurdles that had festered for decades.
There are deep differences on how the new state would function and the degree of autonomy each side would have. The exact geography of the dividing line is also a difficult issue, she said.
Other obstacles include the property, and Greek Cypriot demands that thousands of Turkish mainlanders who arrived on the island after division should leave.
“We have had some convergence on a lot of the headings so far but I would say we are about halfway, but at the moment there is a very sticky issue and that is property,” Colak said. “We think some formulas will be found.”
Another issue is how and on what terms a unification deal would be guaranteed by Britain, Greece and Turkey. Colak said the guarantor powers were saying this could wait until the outline of a deal had emerged. She said Turkey would have to be one of the guarantors. The Greek Cypriot side wants no guarantors.
She also suggested that postponing parliamentary elections in the south of the island planned for May 2016, saying this would ease the negotiating process.
She said some EU member states such as France were still refusing to speak to Turkish Cypriots.
The cost of unification, thought to be around 16 billion pounds would be borne by the international community.
So will it really happen? “There are a lot of signs of hope,” Colak said. (Reuters)
