World has best chance to reunite Cyprus

Once again Cyprus reunification talks failed to reach any conclusion. The diplomats from Turkey, Greece and Britain suspended the talks after failing to iron out differences on security guarantee for its ethnic Greek and Turkish communities. The reunifications talks have failed multiple times in the past also. This gives rise to skepticism. Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded northern Cyprus following a coup aimed at making island part of Greece. Turkey went on to take more territory and thousands of people were displaced.
Chief among the disputes are the issues of how each community will be protected within the proposed federal state and the rotating presidency. Erdogan objected to Greek proposal of four terms for Greek Cypriots for every one term served by the Turkish Cypriots.
Britain is present in the island because it ruled Cyprus after taking it from the Ottomans in 1878 until its independence in 1960, and has military bases there.
Turkish Cypriots, the minority, see Ankara’s military might as their sole insurance against any Greek Cypriot hostility, and want those troops to remain in a final accord. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to keep troops in Cyprus as future security arrangements. Erdogan said, “we will be there forever. Full withdrawal of Turkish soldiers is out of the question.” He said Greece and the Greek Cypriots “are still under different expectations.”
On the other hand, Greek Cypriots, the majority, see the Turkish troop presence as a threat and an instrument of Ankara’s influence on the island. They insist that Turkey, which isn’t an EU member, should neither keep troops on Cyprus, which is part of the 28-nation bloc, nor have the right to intervene militarily there.
A big issue is how new federal state would be divided between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. The Greek Cypriots want to regain the areas in the north, which they abandoned after Turkish intervention.
Following the division of the island, more than 150,000 Greek Cypriots moved south, and about 50,000 Turkish Cypriots fled north. All had to leave their property. Now the question is how and how many from both sides will be allowed to reclaim their properties or how they should be compensated.
The Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akıncı will have to keep discussing differences on issues such as returning homes and property to owners.
Talks on a landmark accord will resume next week. Negotiations on January18 will be at a technical level to seek proposals to resolve the differences and comments from Turkey and Greece suggest there’s plenty of work to do.
The latest effort is once-in-a-life time opportunity. The participants should know that this is the time to bring the negotiations to a successful conclusion, especially in the backdrop of years of failed efforts for a deal. This is a historic opportunity that should not be missed.
Cyprus is one of the most challenging frozen conflicts of Europe. A re-unification deal would have serious ramifications on a number of political and economic fronts and geographies. It would allow the development and export of eastern Mediterranean oil and gas to Turkey and Europe via pipeline from Cyprus. It will help strengthen NATO in Mediterranean, since both Turkey and Greece are members of NATO. A deal to settle the world’s toughest diplomatic challenges would be welcomed in a Europe convulsed by a surge of anti-establishment politics, and as violence roils EU aspirant Turkey and the nearby Middle East.
The parties involved in talks have the best chance to reunite Cyprus if they can overcome the complicated and emotional issue of security arrangements. They must not lose time.