Call on Turkey to reduce troops
The International Crisis Group, headed by an influential board of former heads of state and ministers across the world, has pinpointed Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos as the main obstacle to a solution of the Cyprus problem, while at the same time calling on Turkey to reduce troop numbers and implement its EU obligations.
In a strongly worded Executive Summary dated March 8th, the report concludes “The most substantial blockage of such an agreement is now the policy and attitude of the Greek Cypriot leadership and in particular of President Tassos Papadopoulos.”
The report warned Greek Cypriots that the island will slip by default towards permanent partition and the independence of the north, whether formally recognised or not.
Referring to a centralised Greek Cypriot state as “a pipe dream,” it called on Greek Cypriots to “refocus on the core issues, recognise that a centralised state is a recipe for endless further domestic and regional instability, accept that the roots of the Cyprus conflict lie as much in 1963 as 1974, acknowledge that it is not only they who have been uprooted from their homes and mourn their missing, and look again at the advantages of giving practical effect to the bizonality and bicommunality principles they agreed to three decades ago.”
It added that there is a critical role for the opposition parties, given the “uncompromising position taken by the present government”.
Turkey should cut troop numbers
The International Crisis Group also had a number of recommendations for other actors. It said that Turkey should unilaterally undertake confidence-building measures, including withdrawing some of its 35,000 troops.
It also called on Turkey to implement fully the Customs Union with all 25 EU member states. It added that Turkey should commit to drafting a plan to repatriate a number of settlers once a census has been held.
Greece is told to alter its policy of “Cyprus decides, Greece follows”, which is “anachronistic and unhelpful”.
The group therefore calls on Greece to “take a lead within the EU to refocus efforts on discharging the Union’s obligations to its Turkish Cypriot citizens.”
Turkish Cypriots are told to harmonise laws and practices with the EU and to “show more understanding” of Greek Cypriot demands with regard to the issues of missing persons and the restoration of damaged cultural monuments.
As for the international community, it called on the EU to proceed on the trade regulation “under a specified timeframe” and to fund a census in northern Cyprus.
For the EU, UN and US, it recommended “inducing political change in the south”, unilateral efforts aimed at sustaining the pro-solution momentum in the north and pressure for the immediate recommencement of negotiations.
The Cyprus government, meanwhile, has sought to undermine the reputation of a group which few in Cyprus will have heard of, saying that the International Crisis Group is “an unreliable team, which is neither serious nor objective.”
