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The remarks made by US Ambassador to Ankara, Tom Barack, in his interview with Kathimerini last Sunday dropped like a bombshell on the island’s news agenda.
Since taking office, Barack, who has consistently made striking statements, is known in the American public as the ‘Governor of the Middle East’ and is a Maronite of Lebanese origin. I believe we will be hearing of his name even more in the coming days and months.
As evidence of this, Barack’s latest statements are nothing more than a reaffirmation of a reality.
What is that reality?
If there is to be friendship, or cooperation between Turkey and Greece, the most vital condition for this friendship is the resolution of the Cyprus issue.
In this regard, Barack stated in his interview with Kathimerini that America wants to be the bridge that connects Greece and Turkey within the context of a new regional order and, at the same time, wants to heal the ‘abscess’ in relation to Cyprus.
Abscess is, of course, a medical term. It refers to an inflamed pocket filled with pus, formed by bacterial infections accumulating in a specific area of the body.
This condition arises as a result of the immune system fighting against the infection, and the white blood cells, bacteria and dead tissue sent to the area form the pus.
This is the simple, ‘Wikipedia-esque’ medical meaning of abscess but Barack’s political analogy and the effect he created are quite complicated.
For the ‘abscess’ known as the Cyprus problem has not only caged the Turkish Cypriots but has also turned into a cancer that has poisoned Turkey’s 200-year-old Westernisation project and brought it to the brink of collapse.
Of course, I am not the unique creator of these definitions; many political analysts have made similar comments before.
Indeed, the most recent example of this was seen in the applications made for Europe’s new security formula, SAFE, which was announced just yesterday.
Accordingly, while 19 countries applied for SAFE, Turkey was unable to do so due to the vetoes of both Greece and the Republic of Cyprus. While Canada, the United Kingdom and South Korea (the latter two partially) applied from outside the EU, reports over the weekend indicate that Turkish defence companies, which are among the world’s largest defence industry companies, are unlikely to be included in this important network due to political issues.
Of course, it is not only the Turkish side that is affected by this situation. Greece has armed the Aegean islands, citing the Turkish threat, while the Republic of Cyprus has also opened its doors to various military alliances, citing the same threat.
What does this mean?
It means that the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, which should be a sea of peace, have started to turn into a depot for weapons.
There is no doubt that, to use that famous metaphor from film etymology and quote Anton Chekhov, a gun seen in one scene eventually goes off!
In other words, the situation in the region is inevitably headed towards an explosion!
Instead, what is needed is clear: a political solution!
Barack’s mention of ‘healing the abscess’ is a statement pointing to this.
Of course, bringing this issue to the agenda in this way has hit the island like a bombshell, as I mentioned at the beginning of the article.
On Monday, the headlines of newspapers published in the north of the island reflected this with phrases such as “Trump’s plan for the island”.
Newspapers and well-known writers of opinion pieces in the south have also begun to write about this issue in a heated manner.
For example, Filelefteros’s chief editor, Kostas Venizelos, described such a plan as ‘dangerous,’ characterising the US as viewing the resolution of the Cyprus issue not as a ‘necessity’ but as an ‘obstacle’ to be removed. According to Venizelos, in doing so, the US will act in a ‘Turkish nationalist’ manner and deal a blow to Greek Cypriot interests.
However, I believe he overlooks the presence of the US giants Exxon and Chevron, which are exploring for oil and natural gas off the southern coast of the island.
In the bigger picture, he also overlooks the agreement that the same Exxon made with Greece, which began similar work in the Adriatic Sea 40 years later.
We can also add that it is only a matter of time before a similar agreement is reached for the blocks south of the island of Crete, which would also clash with the controversial Libya-Turkey maritime jurisdiction agreement.
In short, the US is thinking not only of its own political interests but also of ensuring that its companies can operate without any problems. One of the biggest obstacles to the projects I have mentioned above is the Cyprus issue!
At this point, it is another geographical necessity that the resources of the entire Eastern Mediterranean basin, along with the south of the island, will be transferred via Turkey. It is also another geographical necessity that Cyprus, the island at the centre of this business, should become a full-fledged ‘energy hub’.
It is economically unreasonable and impossible for international financial capital to build a nearly 2,000-kilometre pipeline, which will cost $20 billion and be extremely difficult to maintain and logistically challenging, instead of an 80-kilometre pipeline.
In summary, resolving the Cyprus issue is imperative and essential for both energy and regional security reasons.
It is critical and vital for the future of Turkey-Greece, Turkey-EU, and Turkey-US relations.
All of this is not a matter of personal, or group interests of the political structures happily living in the north and south of the island of Cyprus, but rather part of an international issue that directly affects the higher interests of other actors in the region.
The parties at the heart of this inter-community issue are, of course, the actors on the island. And yes, in this context, the pressure exerted by these internal actors on the issue is naturally less.
The influence of Turkish Cypriots, who have been distanced from being ‘actual subjects’ in recent times and have fallen completely under Turkey’s control, is perhaps the least, but this does not mean they are absent, nor should it mean so.
To draw an analogy, the task of Frodo and Sam, the weakest heroes in the legendary trilogy The Lord of the Rings, is to destroy the ring.
It is possible to adapt the presence of these two Hobbits, who are neither skilled with swords, nor able to ride horses, nor possess any other warrior qualities, to the current situation in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The greatest qualities of Tolkien’s imaginary heroes were nothing other than courage and comradeship.
Here, too, what we need first and foremost is courage, followed by the comradeship required to find a solution. I say this on behalf of both sides.
Otherwise, we will remain stuck in taboos and rhetoric for another 60 years, and continue to go extinct…
This article was originally published on 03.12.2025
Source: THE ‘ABSCESS’ IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN, COURAGE AND COMRADESHIP…
