Nikitas wrote:So the port is open. The GC side would like a package deal where a third party takes over the administration of the port, and hence opens it to legalised international traffic, and at the same time the closed city is open to its inhabitants.
Regardless of the acceptability of this proposal, the opening of the city would give the economy of the WHOLE island a boost of historic proportions. The surprising thing is not that the Turkish army will not let go the city, but the silence of TCs, the potential major beneficiaries of the rebuild.
It takes a special mindset to prefer the continued decay of an unused asset rather than the riches its use would bring. And we are not mentioning the tremendous gain of goodwill that such a move would bring about.
Now I am trying to think of the last time the economy of the island received a direct 10 billion dollar boost. Economist friends say that each dollar injected directly into an economy has a tenfold diffusion effect. The calculation is intriguing at a time when both sides are holding emergency economic policy meetings.
Look, with all these things one can either settle matters case by case or one can insist on a comprehensive settlement. Broadly speaking the ultrasand extremists on both sides either are simple rejectionists or pretend to want a comprehensive settlement. Those who really want a settlement are typically more prepared to consider piece by piece, step by step, negotiations. Equally typically, those who suggest that, for example, Varosha be negotiated for, say, international opening of northern air/ports are immediately denounced by ultras/extremists from their 'own' side.
