‘New govt should set a ‘clear policy’ on Cyprus issue’
A NEW four-party coalition government should not shy away from taking a stand on the “Cyprus problem”, a former Turkish Cypriot negotiator has said.
Osman Ertuğ told Cyprus Today that any new negotiations to reach a settlement with the Greek Cypriot side should not be left solely in the hands of the Presidency.
Mr Ertuğ, who served as a spokesman for former President Derviş Eroğlu and is now a member of the Beşparmak thinktank, said the four parties — the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), People’s Party (HP), Democrat Party (DP) and Social Democratic Party (TDP) — should form a “clear policy” on the Cyprus issue.
“We have always maintained . . . the need to have collective action and involvement in the Cyprus negotiations, meaning the government and even Parliament needs to be involved,” he said.
“An example of this is the parliamentary resolution passed in favour of guarantees in a settlement.”
Mr Ertuğ said solving the decades-old dispute on the island was the “main issue” for Turkish Cypriots and that their “future and existence” were at stake.
“Any future contact between the sides has to be based on two founding states and equality, in practice and not just on paper,” he continued.
“This means the role of Parliament is very important in securing such equal footing, to translate into a practical footing.”
Mr Ertuğ warned that Turkish Cypriots should be “careful not to just continue talks from when they were left off”. The most recent effort to reach a solution on the island collapsed in dramatic fashion last July at a 10-day summit in the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana, after more than two years of talks between President Mustafa Akıncı and Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades. The pair have not met since.
“The government should, rather than shy away from such an important matter, have an open policy on it,” Mr Ertuğ added.
In contrast Ahmet Sözen, a political science and international relations lecturer at Eastern Mediterranean University in Gazimağusa, praised the leaders of the four parties for “designing a brilliant formula not to adopt a government policy on the ‘Cyprus problem’, while reserving the right for individual political parties to express their views”.
He said it was the “first time in history” that four parties with “socialist, social democratic, liberal and nationalist” outlooks had joined forces to form a government.
“The four parties have no option but to succeed,” he said.
“If they fail, or if they turn out to be average parties, they will be doomed at the next election. Turkish Cypriots are very aware of the power of their vote.”
Dr Sözen said the average “lifespan” of a government in North Cyprus was “one-anda-half to two years”, which he likened to “Italian-style politics”.
Mete Hatay, a senior researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo’s (Prio) Cyprus Centre, told Cyprus Today that recent incidents, such as the attack on the Turkish Cypriot newspaper Afrika, showed that the country needs a government based on “communal reconciliation”.
“To this end, the prospective government needs to form an inclusive programme to embrace each segment of society,” he said.
Mr Hatay said that while a four-party coalition was unprecedented in the TRNC, there were “many examples in the world of three-party and four-party” alliances which had managed to form long-term governments.
“In South [Cyprus] there have been three-party coalitions which managed to complete their terms,” he said.
“The advantage of the prospective fourparty coalition is that all four parties have similar and common points in their election manifestos.”
Mr Hatay said DP had decided not to renew its partnership with the National Unity Party (UBP) because it had been damaged by the experience.
“The UBP-DP coalition experience did not help DP,” Mr Hatay said.
“We have also seen a transformation in DP after some of its members defected to UBP. The masses in [DP] are now more liberal and it looks like DP is heading that way.