Cyprus-Forum.com

[halil]

24.04.2009

Birikim Ozgur



In the wake of the elections on the 19 April, the CTP must look inwards and try to learn from the mistakes made. The main focus of CTP as an opposition party should be ‘Sustainable development and modernisation with international support’. The party must move forward from the position it took in the aftermath of the Annan Plan.
Even if Turkish Cypriots are not aware of the intricacies of the negotiation process they still voted for a solution to the problem and to join the EU. The negotiations require support from the outside world, however, especially in regards to the legal, financial and technical aspects of any solution. Around the time of the referendum, the mood in the north was positive. The south then rejected the Annan Plan. Those in favour of a settlement then rested on their laurels and waited. The Greek Cypriots, however, set into motion a diabolical propoganda campaign that was effective in convincing the outside world that the UN plan was favourable to the Turks and that the Greeks were right and just in rejecting the plan. Looking back, can we say ‘We did the right thing at all stages of the negotiations?’ No. We cannot. Let’s look back and see the mistakes we made and try to learn from them. Firstly, the necessary care was not afforded to the legal aspect of the settlement. We do not know what kind of decisions were made by the commissions related to the settlement but those that led to the construction boom that followed made it clear that the correct sector for sustainable developments to the solution was not selected. The pro-solution government said ‘The construction boom is necessary for a lasting bizonal solution’ in order to score political points and buy themselves some time. This was how the focus was moved away from the legal aspects of the settlement. How smart was it to allow this construction phenomenon to grow and burgeon? There were other sectors that could have been promoted instead that would also have reflected favourably in the eyes of the world. Tourism is a prime example. The tourism industry would have benefited from EU cash injections which would have spread across the whole island. By choosing to go ahead with construction, instead of halting it, the government only strengthened the Greek Cypriots’ hand. If they had delayed construction, then the outside world could have helped the island to devise a more sustainable process despite the non-solution atmosphere even with the embargoes placed on the North. In this way the Greek Cypriots could have been forced into a pro-solution mindset. During the Ferdi Sabit Soyer period, the legal side was brushed aside and no one questioned the negatives but tried to move forward with what they had. Those who say ‘They managed the government and the party badly, they must resign immediately’ are barking up the wrong tree. Do those people think that the situation would be different from today if a perfect management mechanism was created and the government and party were managed by this mechanism? At this stage of the game it is difficult to agree with that view because the existing mechanism was a dead end. What was of greater importance was a fundamental transformation to the system and this was not possible without outside support. The reality is that with the effects of the global economic crisis and the wrong choice of sector for development during that past 2 years, all the eggs were placed in the wrong basket. The upshot of this was panic amongst the voters and a shift from power to main opposition for the CTP. The only way back to the ‘solution mindset’ for the Turkish Cypriots is a result in the current negotiations and for Turkish Cypriots the world over to unite behind the standard of sustainable development. For example, stopping the 13th month salary and the ‘Esel Mobil’, the twice yearly increase in wages based on inflation, may temporarily cut state expenses but this may actually do more harm than good. The Turkish government must take this into account and take measures with the EU in light of the election results. These should be the internal and foreign policies of CTP in this coming term; to explain the necessity of these measures to Turkey and EU and prepare projects for sustainable development. We must continue down this path, in the wrong boat, but with the right navigator. To do this we must look inward and openly and honestly criticise our party in order to develop and grow. We need an intra and internationally active CTP, working towards sustainable, modern development programmes that are legally recognised and supported internationally. It should only take 6 months for the CTP to pull itself together, determine the weak points and develop the correct projects. It should take a further 6 months for the CTP to renew its management and policy making mechanisms and to develop a strategy for making correct decisions for its supporters and the others within the Turkish Cypriot community. To the hundreds of thousands on the streets, do not be upset. So long as Turkey does not give up its bid to join the EU, we, the CTP will carry on working towards this goal. We can see it on the horizon - its destiny.