If our politicians were not so psychologically conservative tight assed humorless sons of bitches they would have called the partition bluff a long time ago. Simply by publicly announcing their readiness to negotiate it. Take the inititiative and publish the territorial map the RoC would recognise as the basis of partition and inform the ambassadors of the major nations of this intent.
Then they could sit back and watch them all rush to stave off partition. The Turks would be heading the race. The TCs would be close second. The last thing they want is a truly independent GREEK state to their south. The British would panic because the day of settlement re their SBAs would finally arrive, no more games about witholding rents pending a solution etc, the only landlord they would have to deal with would be the totally GC controlled RoC.
In the event of partition all passports held by TCs would be cancelled and automatically substituted with TC state passports. That would mean automatic cancellation of residence rights in the EU, applications for residence permits, hassles that independence brings with it. No more pensions paid by the RoC to non contributors etc.
Yes but the conseuquences some say, losing the occupied territories, no hope of return. Well that cuts both ways. We lose our rights to 20 per cent, they lose theirs on 80 per cent of the island, and that is a lot better than what has been going on for 40 years. As for BBF, anyone who thinks it is not partition is dreaming. So if we are going to have partition we might as well have it cleanly and on our terms rather than have Turkey via its local agents have a hand in conrtolling the whole island.
How about the loss of patrimony etc in the north. Again, if they efface our cultural heritage in the north, they get paid via the same token in the south. They want to retain their cultural monuments in the south, they have to offer the same facility in the north. And that is exactly how it will be under BBF, a quid pro quo regardless of what the solution wallahs like to tattle.
Those that lament territorial loss forget the huge gain that will follow partition and the full unequivocal control of the EEZ which is several times the size of the land of Cyprus. As islanders we should not be limiting our perception to the land. The sea is just as important. From that point of view partition is a territorial gain which we will forego in the event of BBF.