Sign a strategic agreement here and now

I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the response Serdar Atai got to his recent article, The Bitter Truth, published on September 1 in the Cyprus Mail. Admittedly, there were a few readers who felt that the article was not adequately “balanced”, because it initially focused on the wrongdoings of Makarios. After all, he was the president of all Cypriots and his performance must be assessed on this basis.

But Atai then made a statement, which was clear and unambiguous. He said: “Undoubtedly, tragic mistakes and barbarities have been committed on both sides, but that is the past. Today, we should focus on the future”. Of course, we should certainly look at the past, but for the sole purpose of learning from our mistakes, rather than for scratching wounds that may not have healed yet.

Today, we are confronted with the dilemma of either reuniting Cyprus or sealing the partition, which was forcibly imposed on us by events that were outside the control of ordinary Cypriots. As Atai said in his article, Cyprus is heading at full speed into an irreversible set-up, which will be the beginning of new political adventures and, ultimately, catastrophe.

The consequences of these developments will be felt by both Greek and Turkish Cypriots. This is the time to act and there is only one way out of the messy situation we have managed to get into.

There is no time for protracted discussions and ‘negotiations’ managed by people who are in favour of the partition of Cyprus because they believe this arrangement would serve their personal ambitions and self-interests. These are the people who will readily argue that embarking on “never-ending negotiations” will serve no purpose or they will pretend they are seeking a solution, but, in reality, they undermine and jeopardise the reunification process.

As far as I know, everybody (literally everybody) involved in the Cyprus solution-seeking process, confirmed at Crans Montana that we managed to get within breathing distance of reaching our goal. It still puzzles me why we then failed to strike a deal.

This is the time to rectify that mistake and we can do so by entering – here and now – into a strategic agreement on the basis of the Guterres Framework. Surely some Cypriots on both sides of the fence will argue that the agreement which was effectively attained at the time was short of what they considered a “fair deal”.

My response to them is that it is not realistic to expect that they could ever get a solution that would be entirely risk-free and would make them entirely happy. The realistic choice we have is an arrangement that would contain multiple safety valves that would diffuse conflict, in contrast to the London-Zurich agreements, which contained numerous provisions that provoked ethnic and religious antipathies.

Today, we have the European Union, a small part of which is the whole of Cyprus. Despite its shortcomings, the EU is undoubtedly the most liberal and democratic body politic in the whole world. I am certain that both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots wish to be part of the federation that is in the making in Europe. It would be sheer stupidity to throw this challenge down the drain.

I have, in the past, pointed out that some smart ideas as to how we can ensure that our next attempt to convert Cyprus into a harmoniously functioning, multi-cultural small state, operating under a federated structure, are contained in the Set of Ideas that are reflected in the work of the Eastern Mediterranean Think Tank (eastmed-thinktank.com).

Conflict diffusion and conflict resolution mechanisms, a common market throughout Cyprus, a common primary legislative basis, a lean, effectively and efficiently functioning state apparatus, numerous other practical measures that will reinforce a multicultural but common heritage and, above all, the vision of a common future are some of these ideas, which I urge you to become familiar with. This is the time to act. Tomorrow will be too late.

Christos P Panayiotides is a Certified Public Accountant, writer, political columnist and commentator