A real two-state solution is needed for both Israel-Palestine and Cyprus, says Ersin Tatar
Even though the international community refuses to recognise it, the reality of a two state solution in Cyprus should be the model for Israel/ Palestine, writes Ersin Tatar.
I relive what I witnessed as a child – attacks and atrocities against my people – and have to ask: “What has happened to humanity?”
As this tragedy unfolds, I feel more strongly than ever that solving protracted, irreconcilable conflicts, like the one in Cyprus and the one between Israel and Palestine, on the basis of two States is more than justified: it is a necessity.
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has repeatedly spearheaded calls for a two State solution in the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, stating “I urge Israel, Palestine and all others with influence to restore the promise and viability of the two State solution premised on two States living side by side in peace, harmony and within secure and recognised borders, with Jerusalem as the capital of both”.
It is high time to end violence and give diplomacy, which is the only route to sustainable peace, the chance to deliver reality and justice based mutually acceptable solutions.
I was born in 1960, when the Republic of Cyprus was co-founded by Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, who exercised their right to self-determination.
My late father, Rüstem Tatar, was the Republic's Auditor General until Greek Cypriot forces attacked Turkish Cypriots island-wide from December 1963, effectively destroying the partnership State and expelling Turkish Cypriot officials from the state apparatus by force of arms.
During the 1963-1974 period, the situation in Cyprus was similar to that in Gaza. Until 1974, the Turkish Cypriots – co-owners of the island – were also under siege, forced to abandon 103 villages and live in less than 3 per cent of the island.
Horrifying footage from the Middle East reminds me of the attacks on Turkish Cypriots by Greek-Greek Cypriot forces, and our despair as we too were deprived of food, water and electricity.
We were squeezed into enclaves and persecuted. Our mosques, hospitals and schools were attacked; our people abducted and murdered.
This is the atmosphere in which I grew up, my life intertwined with the Turkish Cypriot struggle for justice: our struggle to co-exist as equals and resist attempts by the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo to unite our island with Greece.
Thanks to our Motherland Türkiye, which has exercised her right to intervene under the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee as one of the guarantor powers, which in turn ended the violence and brought peace to the entire Island.
Since then, out of necessity, we have had our own territory on which we live in security, our state mechanism, and consequently our Republic in 1983.
Intervention by Türkiye not only stopped Greek Cypriot and Greek-instigated ethnic cleansing attempts against Turkish Cypriots, but it also established the present borders of the two States, providing space for the Turkish Cypriot People free from the persecution of the Greek Cypriot Side.
After the establishment of the borders, the two Administrations, under the auspices of the UN, managed to conclude a population Exchange Agreement, whereby Turkish Cypriots moved to the North and Greek Cypriots to the South.
This landmark Agreement set the ground for the democratic legitimacy of the two sides.
Since then, the two sides have been conducting their democratic elections, electing their Presidents, forming their governments, and running their States.
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The international community’s persistent denial to acknowledge these factual realities on the ground is unacceptable and unsustainable.
In violation of international law, the Greek Cypriot leadership continues to act as if it has the capacity to represent the Island as a whole, with the support of the international community’s policy of denial.
This is yet another opportune moment for the international community, reflecting on the ongoing humanitarian tragedies in Palestine-Israel, to acknowledge and accept the factual realities that have brought enduring peace and stability on the Island of Cyprus.
The fact on the ground on the Island of Cyprus is the existence of two States and the only realistic solution lies with the cooperation of the two existing States for the common good of the Turkish Cypriot People and the Greek Cypriot People.
My vision for a two-state settlement, fully backed by Guarantor Republic of Türkiye, provides a win-win situation for the future generations.
This will also contribute to sustainable peace and stability in our region. Most importantly, it will end the unacceptable 60-year-old status quo.
Such an approach can be used as a workable model to settle frozen and/or irreconcilable conflicts of the same nature, as was done in the cases of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.
Where a dispute in a two-party partnership state cannot be resolved, as in Cyprus, two States is the natural outcome, allowing the conflicting parties to co-exist in the same geography but in their own jurisdictions within their borders, good neighbourly relations making the settlement sustainable, as we see in the case of the Czech and Slovak Republics today.
My vision includes the prevention of recurrence of violence, respect for the separate self-determination rights of the two peoples of Cyprus, protection of already existing democratic systems and the creation of a cooperative relationship between the two existing states of the island that would pave the way for interdependence and good neighbourly relations in a geography we share with the Greek Cypriot People.
With the endorsement of this model by the international community, I trust this vision would be the key to resolve the otherwise irreconcilable conflict between Israel and Palestine and the conflict in Cyprus.
