Cyprus. The search for a solution

Abstract:

History is littered with failed attempts to resolve the impasse between the two communities that occupy the island of Cyprus. This book examines those failures and seeks alternative avenues to approach a problem that has beset European politics for decades and now clouds prospects for expansion of the EU into Turkey.

The work is organised over fifteen chapters which follow a chronological pattern. The first provides the historical background. The second discusses the players and the third covers the issues. Chapter four dedicated to the new initiative to appoint a British Special Representative for Cyprus and establish that office. Chapter five discusses the Cypriot moves towards armaments and failed attempts to accelerate Turkey’s entry to the EU, and chapter six examines the 1998 efforts to rebuild bridges. Chapter seven addresses the easing of outside factors in 1999 and efforts to relaunch the negotiations. The tortuous rounds of proximity talks and subsequent Turkish walk-out are the focus of chapter eight. The retreat to their respective trenches in 2000, especially by the Turks, was a further setback which was grappled with in 2001 – this is discussed in chapter nine.

The increasing influence of the Turkish EU application was evidenced in 2002 by the opening of face-to-face talks between the two parties as related in chapter ten. Copenhagen proved a further setback but Turkish Cypriots, tired of repeated failures, demonstrated in favour of the Annan Plan and membership of the EU, and this is covered in chapter eleven. Prospects of entry to the EU by a united Cyprus collapsed and attention turned to entry of a divided island as discussed in chapter twelve, along with the action taken to open the Green Line dividing the two communities. Chapter thirteen is almost an autopsy on the failed negotiations but also offers pointers as to a possible resurrection. The author’s farewell given in chapter fourteen is followed by a postscript prompted perhaps by the surprising consequences of the Turkish Cypriot elections in December 2004.

The book will interest scholars, students and politicians with an interest in Mediterranean history, EU enlargement or the future of Cyprus.

David Hannay is a former British Special Representative for Cyprus.

• Primary Source