An excellent article.

[dodger]

http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http:/ ... aaYoTmxlKg


It doesnt make sense to me that a country that has just gone cap in hand to the E.U.then takes on the floating presidency.

Paul.

[Deniz1]

They can give themselves the loan then.

[andre514]

dodger,

I think that IF "cyprus" really is a full member of the eu,
it would be quite difficult to exclude them from the rotating presidency:
whether part of a divided island should have been admitted in the first
place, is quite another and far more serious question

and yet like many similarly profound issues it is one that is frozen in time
as it were

course what "cyprus" is not and turkey remains, is a vital member of nato
which with european finances in confusion and uncle sam still the top dog,
(for now anyrate) and the rest of the middle east as dodgy as ever,
it does permit ankara to gesture to nicosia on what it is they are welcome
to rotate upon

[andre514]

another thing is that the France 24 staffer who wrote the article,
repeats the widely-accepted mantra of turkish membership as a bribe
for abandoning north cyprus, albeit through the mouthpiece of a
"cyprus" minister

yet there does seem to be the merest hint of a new thaw following
nicolas sarkosy's implacable opposition to turkey ever joining the eu

but regarding such a quid pro deal with the turkish army pulling out,
I still remain to be convinced that:

turkey could overcome the impenitrable barrier of the german voter
...and also, that turkey would willingly lose face over cyprus

oh yes there were one (or two) on the old forum who would dispute
my analysis but with the greatest of respect to them their concern
seemed bound up with ownership issues, and various interpretations
of what is just, rather than the portentiously sounding "geopolitics"

[Mel7348]

As I understand things - Turkey has not and will never allow the PRE' 74 killings of Turkish Cypriots to be repeated.

[andre514]

you say that mel, and I'm sure you are right
but quite a number of tc's I have spoken with seem not to mind much
if the "old" cyprus would be restored to life although I don't know if
they really mean pre-1960

in this fashionably anti-colonial age would it be too outrageous to
suggest that an imperial power "holding the ring" as it were
could maybe have had many advantages for the tc community?
some of them still think so

but the old cyprus is long gone and for me it is apparent the two
communities could not co-exist after 1963

...and unlike many idealists on this and mainly other forums there is
scant evidence that they could nowadays either

what is very often repeated without serious thought is the question
of turkey's involvement as if it is totally inexplicable and exceptional

as I am sure you appreciate nobody operates in a vacuum nowadays
and there are vast interconnections...for example what would happen
to britain if or when the "euro" goes belly-up?

[Joe Soap]

I agree with Mel re Turkey's support. TRNC is too close to Turkey to allow it to fall into the wrong hands.


Incidentally I thought the South is in hoc to Russia. Where does its allegiance lie now Greece is up the swanny?

[andre514]

joe soap:

yes it looks contradictory but greece has always been a tad lukewarm
about nato membership, perhaps because nato is "all for" turkey

since south cyprus is not a member it can really pal up with whom it likes
although I have been reminded recently there is no "free lunch"

what strikes me about russian foreign policy is how long the the great
"oil tanker" takes to turn around: no, I don't mean it's pernicious
anti-americanism, but the belated reports of suspending arms shipments
to the crumbling assad regime

likewise the russian parliament has only now woken to the fact russia may
have a problem getting repaid the 2.5 billion euros they just lent to nicosia

...I believe the very technical term financial experts use is "whistle for it"