• English Site
• > Europe
• > Cyprus

A Crucial Breakthrough

Greeks and Turks Restart Negotiations to Reunite Cyprus

By Gerd Höhler in Athens

Greek and Turkish Cypriots on Friday took a step closer to reunification on Friday. The two groups are planning negotiations for the first time in years. If they are able to reach a deal, it would mean the de facto expansion of the European Union.

If you want to see and be seen in the Greek southern part of the Cypriot capital Nicosia, Ledra Street is the place to go. Starbucks and Swatch, Diesel and McDonald's: The pedestrian zone is packed with boutiques, cafés and restaurants. But a few steps behind the taverna Romios, the shopping comes to a sudden end. A two-meter high aluminum barricade blocks the way. Behind the barrier is the Turkish part of Nicosia's divided city center.

The Ledra Street wall has long been a symbol of division. Now, though, its opening has become a signal of hope that the island nation of Cyprus, after 34 years of partition, may finally be reunited.

On Friday, at the first summit meeting between the newly elected Greek-Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, the two agreed to open up Ledra Street. Within days, Turks living in the northern part of the island will be able to walk unhindered into the Greek southern part of the island -- and vice versa.

But the opening is intended as just the first step. Christofias and Talat also agreed to resume talks -- abandoned four years ago -- aimed at solving the decades-old dispute that has plagued Cyprus. In coming weeks, experts from both sides will gather to examine the status of earlier agreements and establish a framework for the way forward. Christofias and Talat are planning to meet again within three months, at which point the real negotiations can begin under the auspices of the United Nations.

Immediately after the Friday meeting, Talat spoke optimistically of a new beginning. "This is a new era," he said. "We're starting for the solution of the Cyprus problem."

Christofias too struck a hopeful chord. "We shall try our utmost in order to come to an agreed solution for the interest of the Cypriot people, both communities, as soon as possible," he said. Christofias, who heads up AKEL -- a political party with roots in Communism -- was elected at the end of February to succeed nationalist hardliner Tassos Papadopoulos. The new president has long supported closer cooperation between the two groups, a position which has won him the respect of Turks in the northern part of the island.

History and Symbolism

The two sides met on Friday at a place rich in history and symbolism: the residence of United Nations special representative to Cyprus Michael Moller. The villa is located on the edge of Nicosia's former airport -- where no plane has landed for the past 34 years. Grass is growing out of the runway and bushes push up through cracks in the concrete. At the edge of the landing strip is the shot-up wreck of a Trident passenger jet -- a graphic illustration of the 1974 Turkish invasion, when troops from Turkey landed on the island's north coast and took over a third of the island within days.

The attack, ordered by then-Turkish Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit, came in response to Athens' attempt, under the ruling military junta, to annex Cyprus. Ankara still speaks of the need to protect the island's 18 percent Turkish minority when justifying the invasion today. In 1983, the Turkish Cypriots declared the founding of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus -- but Turkey is the only country ever to have recognized the declaration.

The old airport is located in a no-man's land inside the UN peacekeeper-controlled buffer zone that runs directly across the island, from west to east. The last attempt to reach a solution in the Cyprus issue came in April 2004, when Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots voted in a referendum on the so-called Annan Plan -- worked out by the former UN Secretary General. Annan called for a plan that would have preserved the island's ethnic division and provided broad autonomy for both groups within a federalist framework. Turkish-Cypriots voted overwhelmingly in favor of the plan, but Greek-Cypriots rejected it. Initiatives to find a resolution to the Cyprus conflict have been stalled ever since.

The Last Chance?

By voting hardliner Papadropoulos out of office, the majority of Greek-Cypriots underscored that they are no longer willing to accept the status quo of the island's division, one EU diplomat in Nicosia said. Residents on the southern half of the island were starting to recognize that time was working against the Greek ethnic group. With each day that passed without a solution, the division deepened -- and the de-facto recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus grew closer.

Back in 2004, the EU had already begun negotiating economic aid and lowering trade barriers with the largely isolated Turkish north. Despite the protest of Greek-Cypriots, an increasing number of foreign delegations began travelling to northern Cyprus, including a visit by former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.

Now, the example of Kosovo's breakaway from Serbia in February is seen as a further incentive for Greek Cypriots to come to an agreement. What happened there, say observers, could also happen in northern Cyprus. With that in mind, Greek-Cypriot Christofias warned on Friday that "this time we have to be successful." A repeat failure would have "devastating consequences for the future of our people," he said.

A Tough Agenda

But now there is new hope for the divided island. With Friday's summit, a "spring window" has been opened, the Greek-Cypriot newspaper Phileleftheres wrote. Turkish-Cypriots are particularly eager to see a solution. Should the partition come to an end, the Turkish northern part will become part of the European Union. When Cyprus acceded to the EU in May, 2004, the entire island was granted membership. Division, however, has meant that the benefits of EU membership have so far only applied to the Greek southern half.

Turkish-Cypriot leader Talat is certain that, if the political will is there, a solution for the divided island could even be reached as early as this year. That, however, is likely overly-optimistic given the complicated nature of the problems to be addressed. What will become of the roughly 35,000 Turkish occupation forces in northern Cyprus? Will generals in Ankara agree to a pullout? What sort of a future is in store for the more than 100,000 settlers who have moved here from the Turkish mainland since 1974? Do they need to go back? What possibilities for return or compensation are there for the 180,000 Greek Cypriots who were driven from the north of the island in 1974?

And perhaps the trickiest question of all: How can the political equality proposed for the Turkish minority be won in a democratic system based on majority rule? This riddle torpedoed the constitution left behind by British colonial leaders after Cyprus won independence in 1960. The one practical answer may be a strong form of autonomy for each group. A reunification in the true sense of the word will therefore probably not be in the cards -- even if some commentators have compared the new border crossing on Ledra Street to the collapse of the Berlin Wall.