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Category: Cyprus/TRNC

Operation Sunshine in Cyprus

Does anyone know what Operation Sunshine is, or was? It is, or was, an MI6 operation in Cyprus back in 1959. The details are revealed in the enlightening research of Stephen Dorril under the title “MI6-Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty’s Secret Intelligence Service.”

The summary is as follows: Cyprus was drawn into ethnic conflict in the late 1950s. Armed, right-wing Greek bands were carrying out attacks against British rule on the island and against Turkish civilians – something that would be named as an attempt at ethnic cleansing in today’s world. In response, Turkey secretly helped an embryonic resistance among Turkish Cypriots, organizing and arming them.

The Brits decided to take effective steps. MI6 started to tap some VIP telephones, relying on the cutting-edge technology of the day in order to prevent further killings and provide a basis for a settlement between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The names included the Greek leader, Archbishop Marakios III. While eavesdropping on Makarios’ lines in order to obtain some political and military information, they recorded some other stuff by mistake – “Rather unusual homosexual proclivities,” as described by the book.

That was in 1958 and when Makarios resisted signing an agreement with Turkish Cypriots under the guarantee of Britain, Turkey and Greece in 1959 in Zurich, he had a visitor in his hotel room with some information to share. Makarios changed his mind overnight, came down to the hotel lobby where his Turkish counterpart Fazıl Küçük was waiting and signed the first treaty on Cyprus which lead the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus in 1960.

That was Operation Sunshine. That is a part of the background story about how the Republic of Cyprus with Makarios as the president and Küçük as the deputy president was established.

That British-made fragile structure began to fall apart a few years later, ultimately leading to theTurkish military intervention which divided Cyprus into two in 1974.

Being happy with the status quo, Ankara did almost nothing other than support the declaration of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, of which only Turkey recognizes.

Turgut Özal was the first Turkish leader who talked about a “bi-zonal, bi-communal, federal system” in the 1980s. In the mid-1990s, Turkey silently distanced itself from that formula, which was not adopted by the Greeks anyway.

Under the Justice and Development Party, or AK Parti, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan adopted a U.N.-backed reunification strategy, which was rejected by the Greek Cypriots in 2004. The European Union’s subsequent admittance of the Republic of Cyprus (officially representing the separated Turks in the north as well), made Erdoğan upset, like many of the Turks.

Now Erdoğan is going back to Özal’s federal model and is threatening whomever by starting to support two separate states on the island, risking Turkey’s relations with the EU.

That brings us to the threshold of a series of very interesting events in the coming months in the eastern Mediterranean.

Hürriyet Daily News

July 22, 2011
Cyprus the most racist country in Europe among other negative aspects

In a research study that was done by the European University in 30 countries *Cyprus topped the list in most of the negative categories including: racism, low trust in others, selfishness, negative attitude towards immigrants, possessive individualism, being passive and detached from a set of important issues, and obsession with television while at the same time we are the slowest at becoming an information society. Among our few positive aspects of our society it was found that we are the most satisfied by the public health system, the tax system, the standard of living and trust in state institutions.

In 2006 the 30% of the population was watching more than 3 hours of TV per day and sadly by 2008 this increased to 50%. Considering the quality of TV programmes that are popular in Cyprus this is indeed an alarming issue. At the same time, we have the lowest use of Internet with just 20% of the population engaging into daily Internet activities compared to 40% in case of Nordic countries. On the xenophobia side more than any other European country we do not like people from different cultural backgrounds. More surprisingly Cypriots even present racist tendencies towards fellow Cypriots who have different sexual preferences or different attitudes than themselves.

Cyprus Updates

*Greek part

July 14, 2011
Turkey hopes for Cyprus referendum in early 2012

Turkey hopes for Cyprus referendum in early 2012

Turkey hopes terms for the reunification of Cyprus can be agreed by the end of the year so that a referendum can take place in early 2012, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutogolu said on a visit to the Turkish Cypriot enclave in the north of the island Saturday.

“We hope to find a solution to the Cyprus problem by the end of the year, and hold a referendum in the early months of next year so that Cyprus can take on the presidency of the EU as a new state that represents the whole island,” Davutoglu told a joint news conferences with the president of northern Cyprus, Dervish Eroglu. (Reuters)

July 11, 2011
Cyprus Reunification Still Stalled

U.N. mediated talks have failed to achieve an agreement to reunify the divided island of Cyprus. This is the third time since November the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders have met to try to resolve this decades-old problem without success.

Greek Cypriot President Demetris Christofias (L) and Turkish-Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu stand next to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (C) as he gives a statement concluding a meeting at the European headquarters of the UN in Geneva, July 7, 2011

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who mediated this latest round of negotiations, is an unfailing optimist. But even he acknowledges progress in healing the divisions of the island is far too slow.

He says negotiators from the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides have worked steadily to move ahead since the last meeting in January. Despite this, he says some important areas still have not been touched.

“For this reason, today’s meeting has been useful and productive,” said Ban. “We have identified some of the difficulties that are standing in the ways of reaching a comprehensive agreement, and we have discussed the need to significantly intensify the negotiations. I have also raised with both leaders the importance of looking ahead at the objective rather than focusing on the problem in minute detail.”

Ban says he is impressed with, what he calls, the commitment on both sides to agree on the details to create a united Cyprus.

Cyprus has been divided since Turkey invaded the island in 1974 following a Greek-inspired coup. Thousands of Turkish and Greek Cypriots fled their homes.

Repeated negotiations throughout the succeeding years have failed to achieve a political settlement to bring the two separate communities together. The major issue of contention concerns property rights. A diplomatic solution as to how to reinstate ownership rights to the thousands of people who were forced to abandon their property has not been found.

Other core issues include governance and power sharing, economy, territory and security, citizenship, and European Union membership. The Greek Cypriot part of the island is an EU member, the Turkish part is not.

This is an ongoing bone of contention between the two sides. It also poses problems for Turkey, whose membership aspirations are tied to the re-unification of Cyprus.

Secretary General Ban says the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders have agreed to intensify their negotiations on the core issues when they return to the island.

“I have every expectation that by October the leaders will be able to report that they have reached convergence on all core issues, and we will meet that month in New York,” added Ban. “This will take the Cyprus negotiations close to their conclusion and would allow me to give a positive report to the Security Council on the matter. It would also pave the way for me to work with the parties towards convening final, international conference.”

Ban says people on both sides of the divide are weary of these endless negotiations. He urges both leaders to renew hope and enthusiasm for a solution.

Some analysts believe the prospect of the Greek Cypriots taking over the six-month rotating EU presidency a year from now might act as an incentive to seal a deal.

via Cyprus Reunification Still Stalled | Europe | English. VOA

July 9, 2011
U.N. chief says peace deal possible between Cyprus and Turkey

By Michele Kambas

Reuters Reuters

NICOSIA: U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon will seek a peace deal within a year from Cypriot leaders engaged in reunification talks Thursday, a source close to the matter said, signalling growing frustration with a slow process that is harming Turkey’s EU ambitions.

Leaders of the estranged Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities have been locked in rounds of negotiations to reunify Cyprus for almost four years, the latest of many previously ill-fated attempts to piece together an island riven by ethnic violence and war.

“By focusing their energy and rising to the occasion this [a deal] could be done in a couple of weeks,” said a person on condition of anonymity.

Ban was scheduled to meet President Demetris Christofias, the Greek Cypriot leader, and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu in Geneva Thursday. Another meeting with the leaders was possible in September, and Ban could also announce he was preparing a report to the Security Council on the state of play in Cyprus negotiations, the source said.

He was expected to seek a commitment from the two that they would ramp up Cyprus-based talks, held in a United Nations compound which forms part of a buffer zone splitting Greek and Turkish Cypriots since a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek inspired coup.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on July 07, 2011, on page 9.

via THE DAILY STAR :: News :: Middle East :: U.N. chief says peace deal possible between Cyprus and Turkey.

July 7, 2011
UN to Begin New Cyprus Unity Talks

Dorian Jones | Istanbul

Hopes of a breakthrough in reuniting Cyprus are diminishing after a year of talks and little progress, but the United Nations will host a second round of negotiations Thursday in Geneva. Failure of the talks could result in a permanent partition of the island, which could also end Turkey’s European Union aspirations.

A Turkish Cypriot police officer, right, stands at the Ledra Palace border crossing, a passage between Greek and Turkish Cyprus, February 4, 2008 (file photo)

Time is scarce

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki moon is due to sit down in Geneva with the leaders of the Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities to map out a schedule for efforts to reunite the divided island. These latest U.N. efforts started more than a year ago and have made little progress, according to observers.

But Carnegie Institute visiting scholar Sinan Ulgen, who heads the Turkish-based research group Edam, warns that time maybe running out to reunite the island.

“This will be the last attempt of the international community to settle the issue,” said Ulgen. “Already [in] 2004 there was such an attempt, which ended up a failure, and now [in] 2011 we see a renewed attempt. If this also fails Turkey’s position will shift on Cyprus, to actually, on the basis of its growing soft power in the region, to lobby for the recognition of the Turkish republic of northern Cyprus and basically seal the division of the island.”

Only the Greek side of Cyprus is recognized internationally. The island has been divided since Turkey invaded in 1974 following a Greek-inspired coup. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is subject to an international economic embargo, is only recognized by Turkey.

But the latest efforts by U.N. Secretary General Ban are facing an uphill struggle. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou who supported the previous U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan’s attempts to reunite the island is no longer in a position to offer such support.

“Although Papandreou is the person who took enormous personal risks to support the Annan plan and never backed off from his position, I cannot see much of initiative coming from him given the very difficult domestic position in Greece,” noted Greek scholar Ioannis Grigoriadis of Turkey’s Bilkent University. “I do not think he will be an obstacle to a solution if a solution comes. But it will be very difficult for him to make more enemies in his party and the country overall by launching a very ambitious Cyprus agenda at this point.”

The U.N. Annan plan was also strongly supported by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In a 2004 referendum it was accepted by the Turkish side of the island, but rejected by Greek Cypriots.

Old divisions remain

With the Greek Cypriot side of the island being an EU member, Turkey’s membership aspirations are seen as tied to reuniting the island. But according to Senior Turkish diplomat Selim Yenel, Turkey will not make any more concessions.

“It has always fallen on Turkey to give concessions, and we have this is enough, we have given enough concessions,” said Yenel. “We have tried everything, but every time we have done so, the Greek Cypriots have put them in the pocket and have asked for more. If we do it again they will just pocket it and ask for something else. This has been basic policy. They have always relied on the European Union, on other big countries, to put pressure on us. Well it is not going to work anymore.”

Observers say such a robust stance is a reflection of the changing balance of power between Turkey and the European Union. Turkey’s membership bid is at a virtual standstill, in part due to Cyprus as well as opposition from both Germany and France. But with the European Union facing economic disarray and Turkey’s fast growing economy the allure of membership is fading, according to Ulgen.

He says that means Ankara can take a tough stance, even pushing for full recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

“Under those conditions Turkey’s EU prospects would come to an end,” Ulgen added. “But the fact the EU has lost its public appeal and the Turkish government has lost is zeal for EU accession changes the frame work for the Turkish government, and makes it more accessible for the Turkish foreign policy to pursue the full recognition of the TRNC.”

But Ulgen argues the real prospect of a permanent partition of the island may yet provide the impetus for the two communities to reach an agreement.

With the Greek Cypriots due to take over the six-month EU presidency on July 1, 2012, it appears that date has become the deadline for a deal to be struck.

via UN to Begin New Cyprus Unity Talks | Europe | English.

July 7, 2011