It is a sad anniversary that marks the division of two communities, but this is exactly what is coming up for the island of Cyprus, which has been physically split along the 1974 Green Line for thirty five years this year.
In that time the pitch of feeling on both sides of the island has oscillated from the optimism of a traveller certain that home rests just beyond the horizon to the entrenched pessimism, distrust and hatred that has come to characterise the twentieth century’s bleakest moments.
Cynicism lingered like a bruise above the island during the presidency of the ‘pugnacious’ Tassos Papadopoulos, who died in January of this year, aged 74.
Papadopoulos’ presidency engaged with the Annan plan, the UN brokered scheme for reunification, which at the time seemed like the best chance for forging unity between the internationally marginalised Turkish Cypriot community and the majority Greek Cypriots.
Ankara, which had, during previous negotiating chapters, been accused of dragging its feet, appeared open to compromise, partially due to a well publicised aspiration for EU membership, an objective that had been reached by the Republic of Cyprus that year – the country joined the EU just a month after the Annan Plan referendum.
The plan’s fate was decided when the overwhelming majority of Turkish Cypriots voted in favour of it and the majority of Greek Cypriots – most of whom had watched as the normally composed Papadopoulos broke down in tears as he listed the plan’s shortcomings and urged the community to reject the plan – kicked it out.
The election of Demetris Christofias a year ago, who ran on a pro reunification, progressive ticket, retuned the hope for reunification, a hope which had seemed so worthy for a moment, and then so ungrounded.
Added to the optimism which surrounded the election of Christofias was the overwhelming feeling that the timing matched the pitch: thanks to the almost partner like relationship which formed between the Greek Cypriot leader and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart, also a Left Winger, and also pro reunification, the Russian educated Mehmet Ali Talat.
The talks between the two sides have been progressing at roughly a weekly pace, and have been moving from topic to topic to the reach the current marker – the difficult property issue.
The UN’s Special Representative Tayé Brook Zerihoun said that last week’s talks were’ ‘substantive’, sparking hope that progress between the two sides has not stalled, and that the leaders are beginning to grasp the nettles that have figuratively sprouted in the abandoned land of the UN patrolled zone which runs between the barbed wire, marking the southern border of the Turkish controlled North and the Northern edge of the Greek Republic of Cyprus with a growing permanence as each year passes.
“They had a good round of substantive discussions on this issue and they have agreed to continue these discussions next week on the afternoon of 12 February,” Mr. Zerihoun said to assembled press last week.
Today – February the 12th – the two leaders are meeting again, and with the news of the single largest investment in Cyprus to conduct their thoughts – the £754 million pound Disney theme park that is planned to be built in the green zone between the communities, with the explicit hope from the developers that it will help to bring the two communities together – let’s hope that a single melody can be written from the defeated riffs that have been repeated for too long on both sides of the island.
Author Resource:-
To stay up to date on the latest news from North Cyprus visit http://www.whiterocksbafra.com where advice on travel and property is continually updated.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.niche-content-articles.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
