by weiss » Tue Mar 16, 2010 7:47 pm
Cyprus: Federal structure and reunification
The Republic of Cyprus between 1960-1974 was a bi-communal unitary state. After the events in 1974 Cyprus, whose population used to be approximately 80 % Greek and 20 % Turkish, was practically divided into two parts (the Greek in the south and Turkish in the north), a state that has been preserved up to now. All attempts to settle the crisis failed. For the sake of a settlement the representatives of the two communities living on the island should elaborate and adopt a basic treaty which is later joined Greece and Turkey.
Multi-zonal division
The unitary state has no chance in these circumstances. The centralized state has to be shifted with federal structure. The bi-zonal state could bear the germs of a future secession. In the view of reestablishing and enhancing the political and economic unity of the island (reunification) the bi-zonal division would be replaced by a multi-zonal division. They would establish Greek and Turkish zones, according to the numerical ratio between the two communities in 1974. Number of the Greek zones will be more 3-4 times as the Turkish zones. However, the division by zones would not mean the separation of the two populations; the Greeks could settle in Turkish zones if they were born or lived there before 1st July 1974. This does not mean that those Greeks or Turks who arrived after July 1974 would have to leave the island; it means that they can only settle in the Greek or Turkish zones (Another possibility could be, stabilizing the Greek citizen at most 80 % and Turkish citizen at most 20 %). Both for the Greek and the Turkish Cypriots the two variants of solutions would ensure the right to resettle on native land. Taking as a starting-point the situation in 1974 proprietary rights must be ensured. The two Cypriot parties would both give up on all sorts of compensations. .
Bi-communal system
As far as the positions in government are concerned: 1.- the president of Cyprus is elected by the Greek community in Cyprus while the vice-president is elected by the Turkish community for a period of four years; or 2.- The president and the vice-president are elected as mentioned before for a period of three years. In the last year of the three-year mandate they exchange positions and in this way the island would have a Turkish president and a Greek vice-president every third year; or 3.-At the head of the country there would be two co-presidents, one of them Greek and the other Turkish and both of them would be elected for a period of four years. The legal system, the passing of local laws would fall upon the Territorial Assembly, the unicameral Cypriot Parliament. The Executive Council (the government) would manage the administrative activity. The proportion 70 to 30 would be preserved between the representatives of the two communities in both bodies. The basic treaty would regulate the domains where the representatives of the Turkish population would have the right to veto. A Surveying Commission would also be constituted including 15 members as representatives of three other states. One of them is Great Britain.
Elements of the double sovereignty!
“The Cypriot flag is the best flag in the world because it is the only one for which nobody would die”- said by an Cypriot Greek politician. It is a fact that many people have already sacrificed their lives for either the union of Cyprus and Greece (enosis) or for their division (taksim) but nobody has ever done this for a unified Cyprus. That is why in the case of any kind of solution or compromise one should take into consideration the strong emotional bonds which connect the Cypriot Greeks and Cypriot Turks to their mother countries, Greece and Turkey. The Greek and Turkish inhabitants of Cyprus would be double citizens: the Greeks would have Cypriot and Greek while the Turks would have Cypriot and Turkish citizenship. The first would accomplish military service in the Greek army, the latter in the Turkish one. The basic treaty would also establish the number of Greek and Turkish military personnel that would be stationed on the island (10000 Greek soldiers and 6000 Turkish soldiers). The governments in Athens and Ankara would appoint each a chief-commissioner. The Greek citizens would be under the jurisdiction of the Greek chief-commissioner and the Turks under that of the Turkish chief-commissioner. Two official languages, two banners and hymns, two police forces would be introduced. The two mother-states, Greece and Turkey send five representatives each to the Coordinating Council. These dispositions already remind us of some elements of the double sovereignty (the sovereignty of two states over the same territory). After this the obstacle which prevents the entire island from joining the European Union could be put aside. As far as the representation to the European Union is concerned Cyprus would follow the Belgian model. Cyprus would be a bi-communal and multi-zonal country, which would be tied to the mother-states Greece and Turkey by special institutionalized relations.
