Hayvanlar Adası, 18 Kasim 2002
Turgut Durduran
To Negotiate or not to Negotiate?
I tend to dislike looking at issues as a "Turkish Cypriot" if I have the chance to look at them as a "Cypriot" but this time I will make a deliberate exception. Also when I look back at things I wrote with a lot of excitement, I dislike them, they are not very satisfying. But will do that anyway.
Let's get this straight first; as a Turkish Cypriot I feel that my leadership does not represent me. They were "elected" via undemocratic, unfair elections. They voice concerns that are unreal. The leadership, over decades, has manufactured consent through control of the media, education and other institutions of the community to promote their artificial Turkish Cypriot "vision". This was furthered and supported by the Turkish state and its military-civilian bureaucracy. Oppression both physically and emotionally was the norm. This is still the situation. Anybody who takes the "official" positions of the Turkish Cypriot leadership as the real concerns of the Turkish Cypriot community is being misled. Unfortunately, without a better alternative, the world chose to listen to over the decades. It was inevitable that the proposed solution package would address that viewpoint.
Not a suprise. It is speaking contrary to my views when commenting about the plan itself. Turkish bureaucracy overcame its initial shock about the election results and put the poll winners in line with the foreign office tradition. There is now a strong conflict in the making in the Turkish state. Governing party has already parted its way with the so-called "hawks" of the Turkish state. The question now is whether the hawks have the power to spoil it or not. Time will show.
This document encompasses an important point which carries a lot of weight on its own: Europen Union membership is integrated to the new system. EU is an institution with a very complex and complete set of principles. Whatever the final negotiated form of this document will be, it has to fall within those principles. It is stated over and over in various sections of the document. This satisfies a lot of my socio-economic expectations for the near-future. In the long-term, there are issues I have with the EU and its member countries, with this proposal Cyprus will be an integral part of those issues. It is a major job for political parties and NGOs in both sides to make sure the restrictions on implementing the EU law is minimized. Can we push our leadership to do that?
It will take hard-work by progressive organizations and individuals to ensure that the new state will function as a peaceful, non-corrupt state. I trust that we can achieve that. As an activist, I believe in the power of people and their non governmental organizations.
I begun looking at this document with the history of negotiations in mind. There are articles that are steps away from the previous "gold-standard", the Ghali Set of Ideas, on the other hand it is much more complete. Looking carefully at the summary and the detailed document, it does not come as a big suprise, it tries to satisfy many of the positions the leaderships of both sides, Turkey and Greece were voicing . It also contains the parts that were accepted over the decades. In its more complete form, what would initially sound contradictory to the Ghali Set of Ideas because more reasonable. It has expanded on the open clauses of 77-79 agreements, Ghali Set of Ideas, unilateral proposals such as the 1989 proposals by the Greek Cypriots, even earlier promises given in 80s. May be it has become too complex, may be it has become unclear in many aspects but it surely expanded on the previous documents.
A major set-back from the past is the lack of a strong central-state which has been the topic of debate for years. In that aspect it is closer to the Turkish-Cypriot leadership's positions. However, it does not give them the main brownie point they were asking for, which is a separate sovereignty that they could use to declare seccession. It is not really a confederation if we are to make this a prerequisite.
Hard to tell whether the lack of a central-state makes a unitary state impossible. Can we keep corruption in control? Can we stop discrimination? Abuse of power? Thousands of people in both sides worked very hard to keep the hopes alive for years. I think it is now time for them to consider the post-solution Cyprus more carefully. One wishes that the atmosphere will be that of a freedom and democracy, this would be a massive step forward for the Turkish Cypriot community. We must take good advantage of this.
A truly unexpected proposal, for me, is the presence of Turkish and Greek troops on the island along with the "mutatis mutandis" application of the treaties of Guarantee. This is a major drawback and weakness but given the status of Turkey's EU membership, I hope that its practical negative effects will be minimal. Unfortunately, this comes at a time of continous unstability in Turkey and therefore the involvement of military in politics might vary. The allowed 4-digit number is worrisome, Cypriots should try to minimize this number. Their command structure should be given to some foreign control. If nothing else, they should be phased out in time. This is a very sticky point and fiddling in this affair might open unexpected cans of worms such as the status of the British bases. I believe that is an important issue that Cypriots should deal with but it has to wait its turn.
Demilitarization is a welcome addition. Contrary to the supposed opinion of Turkish Cypriots, I believe that our community has a lot to benefit from the dissolution of Cypriot armies. That is one less thing to worry about. There are clauses forbidding paramilitary armies, guns other than sporting guns, import of weapons, controlling the police force and its weaponry and so on. These clauses are also welcome but it would take a considerable amount of watchdog work to implement them. I am concerned that the new system will be created by the present, corrupt leaders and bureaucrats. I did not expect a solution proposal to deal with corruption but with a possible solution at hand, it will be the job of Cypriot progressives to "clean-up" the state. We need to "demilitarize" the mentality of the communities. There is a questionable institution called the "Reconciliation comission" with a name that recalls what was done in South Africa. Unfortunately, its duties do not seem to include what it did in South Africa. That seems to be one mechanism to extend demilitarization beyond simply getting rid of militaries; find some ways of punishing and/or exposing past crimes, showing that the dark days of paramilitary rule are not forgotten.
There are points that I would call major omissions. The proposal
outlines a list of what appear to be transitional measures but does
not clearly indicate what will follow them. On issues regarding
ownership of properties in the so-called "other
There is a lot of hype in Turkish Cypriot community about the areas
that are going to be left to the Greek Cypriot control. Along with
mostly military areas, areas settled by Turkish settlers few major
towns and villages are to be "given away" (using the common
rhetoric). T/C leadership accepted 29%+ for years and has shown
flexibility for even lower an area. It is therefore not at all
suprising that this map was produced. Complex -- I am not very clear
about them -- parts of this plan might allow a larger number of people
than immediately assumed to stay where they are. In any case, this is
a price that as a community we have to pay. To begin a new life, to
leave behind a peaceful Cyprus, it is well worth it. It is important
that all Cypriots are somehow satisfied at the end.
I could go on. I have 10s of "crosses","check marks" and "question
marks" I have put all allong this plan. "Crosses" should be changed,
question marks should be answered. There are more "check marks" than
both. So that is a good sign.
I do not have the resources or expertise to clean it up from question
marks. I am hoping somebody more responsible will do that.
Some "crosses" are huge, I have to do something about that.
It is a disaster from pure human rights perspective. Cyprus has
been a disaster for decades, so no suprise here either. It is a major
step forward though. It is not so much of a disaster from practical
human rights perspective. This is an opportunity we should not
miss. We should hold onto this plan very tightly and push the leaders
in a direction, we as a people want them to go. May be this time the
oppressors will not have their way. May be there is too much at stake
this time that they have to listen to us. May be too many people are
looking so we can push our way through.
Let's not sit back. Claim our future. Write, speak, get in the streets
if necessary. Even if you hate this plan. Do that. Get out and tell
your reasons so that the next might be better. Or better, prepare the
next one. We should catch the present hype, don't it slip away.
Yes, negotiate this plan. No, don't just do that. Do more!