[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [SRRTAC-L:10462] FWD: Cyprus Betrayal

Tue Mar 25 00:08:05 CST 2003

>Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 21:03:29 -0800
>From: Mary Rushfield <mrushfield at surfside.net>
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>Subject: [SRRTAC-L:10462] FWD: Cyprus Betrayal
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>From: portsideMod at netscape.net
>To: portside at yahoogroups.com
>Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 20:28:24 -0500
>Subject: Cyprus Betrayal
>
>Cyprus Betrayal
>
>    By Conn Hallinan
>
>    Published by Portside
>
>    March 24, 2003
>
>     "Collateral damage" is the term that describes what
>happens to civilians caught in the crossfire of war,
>but the "collateral damage" of the Iraq war is likely
>to be more political than physical. The divided island
>of Cyprus, for instance, was a victim before the first
>cruise missile hit Baghdad.
>
>     For the past 14 months, the United Nations and the
>European Union (EU) has worked to end the division of
>the island between the Turkish and Greek communities,
>only to see the entire endeavor fall apart because of
>the Bush Administration's fixation on getting rid of
>Saddam Hussein.
>
>     "The collapse of the Cyprus peace deal," notes
>Middle East expert Quentin Peel in the Financial
>Times," is the most concrete collateral damage to date
>caused by the obsession of Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair with
>their military intervention in Iraq."
>
>     Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish
>troops invaded the northern part of the island to head
>off a Greek military coup. The UN has long condemned
>the occupation, and Turkish domination of the north is
>recognized only by Turkey.
>
>     UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was close to
>getting the two communities to hold referendums in
>preparation for Cyprus joining the EU, when the White
>House monkey wrenched the deal. "Senior members of the
>Bush Administration," opines the Financial Times," have
>suggested an improved deal on the UN package for
>Northern Cyprus to the Turkish military in return for
>Ankara's co-operation in providing bases and logistics
>for any US-led war against Iraq."
>
>     While the U.S. State Department called the refusal
>of the Turkish side of the island to allow a referendum
>"regrettable," White House support for "improving" the
>deal for Turkish Cypriots was a green light for the
>powerful Turkish military to torpedo the whole matter.
>
>     This failure might end up setting the division in
>stone. "It could be that we are closer to a permanent
>partition," says Phillip Savvides of the Greek think
>tank, Eliamp, and, "it is not certain that the
>international community will want to put so many
>resources into trying to get a settlement."
>
>     The collaspe of the Cyprus deal flies in the face
>of what both communities want. Polls show strong
>support among both Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots
>for ending the partition. But following meetings
>between Turkish Cypriote leader Rauf Dentash and the
>Turkish military, Dentash blocked the referendum.
>
>     The north, with its smaller population and poorer
>resources, would benefit from uniting with the more
>prosperous south, and a unity pact would have paved the
>way for EU membership. As it now stands, the Greek part
>of the Island will join the EU, the north will not.
>
>     While all of this is a tragedy for the 800,000
>Cypriots, the ripples from White House meddling are
>spreading throughout the region. For one, it has
>strengthened the hand of the Turkish military to veto
>the ruling Justice and Development Party's push for a
>solution.
>
>     The fact that the Turkish military could checkmate
>the civilian side is an ill omen for the fragile
>Turkish democracy. It also raises the problem of
>Turkish intervention in Northern Iraq.
>
>     The breakdown of recent negotiations between Turkey
>and the U.S. over the use of Turkish bases to invade
>northern Iraq was in part due to the overwhelming
>opposition by the Turkish population---94 percent at
>last count--- to the U.S. war.
>
>     But the failure of those talks was also due to the
>fact that while the U.S. wants to keep Turkish
>incursions into northern Iraq shallow, the Turks are
>talking quite openly about moving deep into the
>country, even seizing the oil centers of Mosul and
>Kirkuk. Turkish troops have already crossed the border
>at Cukurca near the Iran-Iraq border. The Turk's aim is
>to prevent Kurds from establishing a foundation for a
>Kurdish state through their control of oil resources.
>
>     "We're talking about Turkey's security," says
>retired Turkish general Armagan Kuloglu of the Center
>for Eurasian Strategic Studies. "We can't entrust our
>security entirely to another party. We have to be ready
>to take steps ourselves if necessary. The mission would
>be to control northern Iraq, temporarily."
>
>     The trick words here are "security" and
>"temporarily."
>
>     By "security" the Turkish military means disarming
>the Kurds and stopping the formation of either a
>Kurdish autonomous region or a separate state.
>"Temporarily" means until the Kurds give up their dream
>of independence. Since neither is likely to happen, it
>is a formula for open-ended occupation and war.
>
>     "We will oppose any Turkish military intervention.
>No one should see us bluffing on this issue," says
>Hoshyan Zebari, the foreign affairs minister of the
>Kurdish Democratic Party.
>
>     So, the Bush Administration helps torpedo a Cyprus
>peace as a bribe for Turkish bases. That, in turn,
>emboldens the Turkish military to spark a civil war in
>northern Iraq. "Not an item on the International agenda
>is immune," writes Peel. "Bad deals are being done to
>win allies. The costs may be counted for years to
>come."
>
>     The dominos from the Cyprus betrayal are only
>beginning to tumble.
>
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Al Kagan
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