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THE prospects of a united Cyprus receded when a nationalist party won the parliamentary election in the north on April 19th. The National Unity Party, led by the hawkish Dervish Eroglu, took 44% of the vote, giving it 26 of the 50 seats. The vote for the ruling Republican Turkish Party, which backs reunification, fell to 29%. This reflects voters’ disillusion over the UN-sponsored peace talks that have dragged on since Turkish troops seized the northern third of the island in 1974 after a failed attempt by ultra-nationalist Greek-Cypriots to unite with Greece.
The result will also damage Turkey’s faltering membership talks with the European Union. Turkey faces a December deadline to open air- and seaports to Greek-Cypriots. It refuses to do so until the EU eases trade restrictions on northern Cyprus. Sweden, which takes on the EU’s presidency in July, is looking for a way to avert yet another train-wreck between Turkey and the EU. One idea is for Turkey to open a symbolic port or two only (though this was also tried two years ago by the Finnish EU presidency).
Hopes of a breakthrough now hinge on talks between the Greek-Cypriot president, Demetris Christofias, and his Turkish-Cypriot counterpart, Mehmet Ali Talat. Mr Talat led the campaign to persuade Turkish-Cypriots to vote in favour of the UN’s Annan plan to reunite the island in 2004. But the Greek-Cypriots overwhelmingly rejected the plan in a separate vote, so Cyprus joined the EU as a divided island. The Greek-Cypriots have been subverting Turkey’s EU membership talks ever since.
The mood improved markedly when Mr Christofias, who like his fellow left-winger, Mr Talat, favours a settlement, was elected president in February 2008. Substantive peace talks began last year with the backing of Turkey’s government, still keen on a settlement similar to that proposed in the Annan plan. This calls for the establishment of a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation between Greeks and Turks.
Mr Eroglu publicly espouses the idea of reunification, saying that talks between Mr Talat and Mr Christofias must continue. Yet many suspect he prefers the status quo, which means continued dependence on Turkey and keeping 30,000 Turkish troops. Mr Eroglu talks of sending “a representative” to the peace talks. If he sticks to his campaign pledge to scrap a commission set up under Mr Talat to return occupied properties to Greek-Cypriots, the talks may collapse altogether.
Despite all this, Mr Talat met Mr Christofias again on April 21st. In a show of support, Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, made clear that he would not tolerate mischief-making by Mr Eroglu. “We will not be supporting any steps that will weaken the hand of the president,” Mr Erdogan insisted. Some fret that Mr Erdogan may yet yield to hawks in his own party. Another worry is whether Turkey’s generals really want a deal.
What is clear is that the EU complicated matters hugely by letting a divided Cyprus join. “Had [the EU] been less rigid and cleverer, it would have lifted the sanctions long ago and thereby minimised the dependency of northern Cyprus on Ankara,” argues Yavuz Baydar, a commentator. It would also have eased Turkey’s accession to the EU. But that is just what Turkey’s detractors inside the EU do not want.
February 18
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, thousands of Crimean Tatars came back to their homeland in Ukraine after decades in exile following their 1944 deportation by Stalin. Estimates of the numbers deported range from 180,000 to 200,000.
The Ukrainian State is widely and rightly credited for facilitating the repatriation of the Crimean Tatars, who now number around 250,000 according to the 2001 census.
However, although the return of the Crimean Tatars went smoothly, their reintegration into Crimean society has been problematic. Lack of employment opportunities, unresolved land issues and under-representation in the public sector have become part of everyday life for them.
Desperate people do desperate things. On several occasions, the Crimean Tatars have blocked roads, organized tent camp protests and staged demonstrations, straining relations with the police.
Need for greater confidence
Knut Vollebaek, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM), believes there is an urgent need for confidence-building between the Crimean police and minorities.
"The police and the ethnic communities have much to gain from working closely together. One has to bear in mind the perils of police and minorities only seeing one another through the protective visors of riot police helmets," he says.
Easier said than done, sceptics would say. There are, however, good examples of police-minority partnership that have emerged despite tough circumstances. Highlighting them and promoting co-operation between the police and minorities was the aim of a conference co-organized by the HCNM and the Ukrainian Interior Ministry in late 2008.
But when the regional police management and minority communities gathered at the Crimean police headquarters in Simferopil on 6 November for the conference, passions were running very high.
On the night before the meeting, Nadir Berinkulov, a 21-year old Crimean Tatar from the village of Solontsovo, was shot by a police officer and later died in hospital. The circumstances of his death are currently being investigated.
Heated debate
The conference's morning session gave people an opportunity to air their feelings. Needless to say, the shooting was hotly debated.
"It may sound cynical but we are not surprised at the 6 November incident," commented Emine Avameliva, a lawyer from the Mejlis, a Crimean Tatar NGO. "Crimean Tatars have grown used to abusive policing."
After the heated opening, the roundtable focused on many aspects of police-minority interaction. The police brought up the lack of minority co-operation in solving crimes. Crimean Tatars criticized the absence of any police response to the hate propaganda against them in the mass media and among young people. Other minority communities decried the lack of police outreach and information sharing.
The representation of minorities in the police figured prominently.
"Distorted mirror"
"The High Commissioner has recommended that the police service must mirror the demographics of the population," said Refat Chubarov, one of the Mejlis leaders.
"In Crimea, the mirror is distorted," Chubarov noted, referring to the fact the Crimean Tatars account for 12.1 per cent of the total population of Crimea, but only 4.0 per cent of police personnel.
The HCNM's experts from the UK and Russia showed convincingly how the police and minorities can benefit from working together, and how an emphasis on training, recruitment and communication can turn them into partners.
Follow-up needed
"While the very fact that police-minority dialogue is taking place is encouraging, it has to be followed up," High Commissioner Vollebaek says. "Concrete projects in Crimea, such as police training in management of inter-ethnic relations, will boost confidence and trust."
The High Commissioner has found like-minded partners in the Ukrainian Interior Ministry. Two advisers to the Minister, Yurii Lutsenko, and senior police management from Crimea took part in the Simferopil event, listening patiently and engaging constructively.
"We have been given food for thought," says Maryna Novikova, one of the Minister's advisers. "Now it is time to turn thoughts into action."
