Or will the GC-Hardliners win, again?
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Who do these populists think they’re fooling?
THE IRRESPONSIBLE populism of the Cyprus problem’s professional hardliners knows no bounds. Everything is possible for these demagogues, so long as the government subscribes to their simplistic views on world politics and follows a more assertive diplomatic policy.
Five years of the Papadopoulos presidency, during which the government’s assertive policies led nowhere but this has taught nothing to the demagogues, who now have the audacity to accuse President Christofias of ‘submissiveness’.
On a Monday night TV debate, a political columnist castigated the majority of the politicians because they agreed to a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation as a settlement. Such a system would never work, he argued, and the politicians should have asked the people before agreeing to a federation. It was not too late to put it to a referendum, he said.
Ironically, this was from a commentator who was lambasting the island’s populists and demanding more seriousness in political life. His message was quite clear – if we did not want a federation, all we had to do was tell the Turkish side that we wanted to negotiate a different system of government and our wish would be granted.
It is this naive thinking that has always plagued Cyprus politics. No thought is ever given to what a tiny country like Cyprus, with no military, financial or diplomatic muscle can achieve. In fact anyone who dares mention this unpalatable truth is dismissed as submissive and unpatriotic. The demagogues insist that by building up our defensive capability and pursuing an assertive diplomatic policy – constantly blocking EU negotiations with Turkey – we will secure the settlement we desire, which is laughable.
Yet we know that the obstruction tactics at the EU do not work – they led to the marginalisation of the Republic without any real benefits. The naive slogan about a ‘European solution’, peddled by the professional hardliners, was completely discredited as were the absurd boasts by a former foreign minister that he would defend the principles of the EU.
This is the type of simplistic nonsense which is served as political argument by the exponents of the hardline approach, who are always dreaming of putting Turkey in the dock – by filing recourses to the European Court of Human Rights and stepping up the enlightenment campaign.
Yet the truth is that the only peaceful way to re-unify the island is through the establishment of a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation. The demagogues, who object to such a settlement should find the courage to tell us what they support instead. They should not be embarrassed to say that partition would be a better settlement than a federation. It is a perfectly legitimate proposition and much easier to implement than a federal settlement. But despite their brave rhetoric, they do not have the courage to say so in public, offering instead hollow promises and fairytale endings.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009
