Monday, February 03, 2020
A road map to peace in the East Med
https://cyprus-mail.com/2020/02/02/a-ro ... 4781700400Indeed, if there is a road map, all roads lead to Cyprus.
The Cyprus problem is not the problem, but the Problem is.
While we are divided as "Greeks" and "Turks", it is easy for Cypriots to be forgotten in their midst. "Greekness" against "Turkishness" and/or vice versa is the Agenda. Thus, Cypriots are not the Problem, nor the problem, they are a People which remain, as people, under the subjugation of a mythic reality that "Turkishness", or "Greekness", matters more, than anything else.
Yet, how does this relate to oil and gas exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean, I ask? How is it oil and gas exploration, in Cyprus, has been linked to hostilities in the Aegean with Greece, and most recently, Libya.
Witness the Treaty of Sevres, "cornered" with the installation of a Sovereign base in Cyprus for his drones, so says Mr. Erdogan. Witness the Treaty of Lausanne, "tossed out a window'', his disruptive behaviour toward all his neighours, and now on the seas. His supremacy, militarily speaking, over any one of these adversaries (read: neighbours), is only a few years away, given the military-industrial complex he is growing.
Prepared to War, as such, will put him in a better negotiating position, if instead it comes to that.
But what does Turkey gain, from Cyprus, if it is divided for "Turkishness", the rest for others (read: "Greek")? It is not just Cyprus which is torn apart, but the very fabric that has made the notion of Humanity, above it. This is the Problem. And a Cyprus divided, means Turkey divided, for the same reason; Erdogan must know this.
What of Turkish Constituencies? What of the Kurds and the Alevi, are they not Turks, and Turkish? One Flag in Turkey, like one Flag in Cyprus makes perfect sense to me. Perhaps it is Cyprus that will change Turkey, and not the other way around. Perhaps a BBF in Turkey, with its own Constitutional reform is something to think about.