The main conclusion of the FMD crisis is that Cyprus is one – and as such it must be perceived by those in public administration. The fact that the Republic of Cyprus does not exercise effective control over the occupied territories is not an excuse, nor can it take us “far”. On key issues, the political direction should be the best possible understanding and communication. Let those who want to keep their distance, on a purely personal level.
I really don’t know if we can, with these conditions in the internal and external environment, go to a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus issue. Probably not, especially since roadblocks can’t be opened as a confidence-building measure either. But what is needed are not trust measures, which we don’t have anyway, but common sense measures. And it is not only the recent issue of foot-and-mouth disease that requires cooperation and where we would have caught the worst. Unless, of course, the authorities of the Republic of Cyprus have the impression that if they cooperate with the occupied, they are legitimizing the occupation… Some people probably believe that – or, even worse, that the country’s borders are the roadblock of Ledra.
There must also be an agreement on the consequences of climate change: fires and floods, temperature rise and the water problem. It is inconceivable that anyone would think that this ends at the barricade. A political mandate is needed to establish a common political direction and cooperation. We do not need to wait for the Cypriot solution for these, as the mayors of Nicosia, Lellos Dimitriadis and Mustafa Akintzi, did not wait for it in the 80s, for the joint management of the city’s sewage. And this happened a few years after the invasion, with Rauf Denktash in the leadership of the Turkish Cypriots and the trauma of the war fresh. Now can’t we?
Just as we cannot think that at some point we will be faced with a big earthquake. If a school is buried under the rubble, what cooperation protocol will we follow? Should he be a voter or a relative of the then President of the Republic or the leader of the Turkish Cypriots to allow crews to help? Judging by the large fires of recent years, we will probably just watch, and only sensitive individuals on both sides will help. How difficult is it, that is, to have a protocol and also a plan for joint action that can be applied in extreme cases? We need them and they need us, even if we never truly trust each other.
As we need each other for water and energy. Together we will be thirsty and together we will run out of electricity if we do not cooperate. It is an illusion to think that a strategic advantage can be gained only from one side – either with water from Turkey, or with an electric cable from Greece and Israel. The reality is that we have been led, both sides, to water and energy bankruptcy and that together we must see what solutions we can have. Before the place is deserted, that is, and before we lose the technology train for good.
These are basically needed and, unfortunately, few – rather marginal – politicians are left who can or dare to put them in their audience. An audience increasingly out of touch with harsh reality and increasingly nostalgic for other eras and grandeur that never existed. It has come to be considered romantic to say that we cannot live without the other side. Or treason to say you have to plan with them about how we’re going to deal with foot and mouth, an earthquake or a flood. How absurd or recognition of the pseudo-state, to work together to save what is left of our forests.
Well done…