This article makes for a good read especially for our more extreme and doom and gloom merchant GC friends and the token TC.
Now there was somebody on this forum who suggested that Turkey should flirt with Russia to put the fear of God into the EU and US. I can’t quite remember who it was, but I am sure the paid members of the forum will be able to remind us.
Of course the biggest insult of them all is the fact that the Gas pipeline will pass through TRNC. Do I detect the resignation of the international community to the fact that these talks will come to nothing and the beginnings of the recognition of TRNC.
Interesting times a head, no doubt.
PS. Can the boys from the ministry remind the Russians to cancel the pipeline project?
Enjoy.
Silenced by Russia-Turkey energy deals
CYPRUS newspapers and television stations did not give very much coverage to the visit to Ankara by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin last week. The signing of a series of agreements for co-operation on major oil and gas projects, between Turkey and Russia, was not deemed to have been of great interest to the Cyprus public.
Not even the politicians, who publicly attack foreign officials, as a matter of routine, for uttering views that they interpret as pro-Turkish felt the visit and the deals were worthy of comment. This was very surprising, considering that during the news conference he gave in Ankara, Putin not only referred to the Cyprus problem but also spoke about the Blue Stream 2 gas pipeline passing through the north of Cyprus.
Had such a plan been announced by the prime minister of any western country the media and politicians would have been up in arms, demanding a demarche by the government and other similarly pointless actions intended for local consumption. But this time there were no alarm bells about ‘recognition of the north,’ nor about Putin’s ‘provocative’ comments about bringing back the Annan plan and his wish to develop co-operation with ‘Turkish part of Cyprus’.
The silence that greeted the deal-signing in Ankara suited the government as it did not have to defend the official rhetoric about Moscow always taking a stand on principle in the Cyprus problem. The naively meaningless assertion was used extensively by the Papadopoulos government, during the post-referendum period when the president was on bad terms with the European Commission and EU governments. People needed to believe that the Republic still enjoyed good relations with at least one powerful state.
President Christofias, influenced by his pathological hatred of the capitalist West, adopted similar rhetoric during his official visit to Russia, soon after his election, publicly lambasting NATO and praising the Russian government’s alleged adherence to principles. Successive governments have always cited Russia as the one principled and steadfast supporter of the Greek Cypriot cause, but this is more myth than reality.
Russia, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, occasionally took stands in meetings at the request of the Cyprus government, but that is as far as Moscow help to Cyprus goes. Cynics could say that this support may be influenced by the arms purchases the Republic makes from Russia. The latest order for used tanks from Russia, at a cost in excess of €100 million, was justified by Cyprus government sources along these lines – it would guarantee the support of Russian government at the UN.
But to think that we can buy Russian support by arms orders of a few hundred millions is incredibly naive. Trade between Russia and Turkey is worth $40 billion and is expected to double over the next four years, while some 2.5 million Russian tourists visit Turkey every year. Last week they signed a deal for the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline which would pass through Turkish waters in the Black Sea. Russia also agreed to help Turkey set up a nuclear power station in Akuyu.
Russia has every right to sign co-operation deals with Turkey, but why are Cyprus politicians turning a blind eye to the close relations being forged by Moscow and Ankara? Is it because it exposes their naive diplomatic theories?
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009
