After such a long time, certain compromises on the Cyprus issue are significant…
Especially following a nine-year stalemate…
The most heartening development is the Louroujina crossing…
It will effectively rescue a village from isolation.
Moreover, we must not view the issue as being limited to the movement of people living in Louroujina to the south.
A new route will open up from Mesaoria, and even from Nicosia, to the south of the island.
New dynamism, and perhaps a new economy, will emerge.
A village that has been cut off from the outside world for years will once again be connected to the whole of the island.
As for the Kampos crossing, however, I do not feel the same level of excitement.
What need will it meet, how much will it be used, and what contribution will it make to the region?
We do not yet know this well enough.
***
Another reassuring development is the return of the IMAGINE project…
Children and young people coming together in bi-communal peace education, getting to know one another, questioning their prejudices… How realistic is it to expect a shared future from generations who have grown up without knowing one another, or even fearing one another?
This is why IMAGINE is important.
Agreements reached on joint disaster response, environmental projects and cultural heritage should not be underestimated either.
Every collaboration that strengthens the culture of coexistence in Cyprus has value.
***
However, beyond all this, there is a far more important issue.
If the goal of a federal solution is lost, new checkpoints can become tools that normalize the current status quo.
We do not want this.
Why would we want it?;
This status quo is grinding down Turkish Cypriots.
It is gradually turning the north of the island into a province of Turkey, and the south into a European Union member state that is drifting further and further away from us.
This is an order in which Turkish Cypriots are becoming isolated, losing their will and identity in their own homeland…
And in which people who have settled on the island later also see European citizenship as a distant dream…
That is why, whilst new checkpoints are being introduced, the primary objective must not be forgotten.
Getting used to the proliferation of checkpoints should not mean accepting division.
Our goal must be a united and federal Cyprus, free of checkpoints and based on political equality.
***
I value Tufan Erhürman’s active political approach, which is driven by proposals and initiatives.
I find his stance – striving to achieve results after nine years of stagnation, developing proposals and pushing for progress at the negotiating table – encouraging.
However, reopening discussions on the convergences reached in the past regarding political equality and rotating presidency must not set the process back.
Then there is that famous ‘game-changer’ proposal…
It has aroused curiosity, but its content remains a secret for now.
We need to give diplomacy time.
Let’s see what emerges from the planned trilateral meeting with the UN Secretary-General.
***
It seems that Turkey will not easily abandon its bargaining stance centred on the ‘two-state’ solution unless its own expectations are met.
This is where the real sticking point lies ahead of the five-party summit.
Nevertheless, I do not underestimate small compromises.
Provided, that is, that these small steps do not take the place of the larger objective.
Let’s open the checkpoints, of course…
Yet, let’s not get used to division.
Source: SMALL STEPS, BIG ISSUE!
