The absurdity of Cypriot "inter-communal talks"

The Cypriot newspaper Simerini recently published a caustic but insightful article (written in Greek) by Lazaros Mavros titled “Neither Inter-Communal and Neither Talks”. The article which can be read in Greek here provides a somewhat Realist interpretation of the historical and ongoing inter-communal talks between the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriot minority. Here is the full text translated into English:

For many years now, for almost three decades, we write and print articles containing two words inside quotation marks, “inter-communal talks”. Controversially, how much are they actually inter-communal or indeed talks?

Regarding the first term, “inter-communal”, the last few decades have proved that it has been used to mislead, as the representative of the so-called “Turkish Cypriot community” was and is, in fact, a representative, an agent and instrument of theTurkish invaders. And using the “vehicle” and strategic bridgehead of the Turkish Cypriot minority - which is entirely controlled by Ankara - the Turks have attempted to expand their control over the entire island.

The second term in quotation marks, “talks”, has shown during the last few decades what was obvious from the beginning: with a Turkish pistol to the temple, the talks were a process of imposing the objectives of the invader onto their victims, with a view towards final capitulation.

The acceptance, from the victim, of “inter-communal talks” legitimised the process; being “clothed” under the auspices of the UN, and mainly accommodated, the United States and the United Kingdom. It also exempted….the rest of the international community…..from this headache! Ultimately, neither the internal practices, operations and occasional results of the “inter-communal talks”, in whatever form, have salvaged the concept of actual negotiations and talks. Currently, abandoned to a point considered unthinkable, is the basic rule of negotiations, that “none of those discussed, proposed, negotiated, binds the parties, except if they reach a final, comprehensive agreement”!

The clear result is that henceforth, the current Greek Cypriot negotiator Mr Christofias - who considers himself bound to what the previous negotiators, the Presidents of the Republic of Cyprus, consented to during the “talks” - is completely indifferent to the fact that the sovereign people of Cyprus rejected on 24 April 2004, with a 76% vote, all the results and derivations of the so-called “inter-communal talks” that were incorporated into the “Annan Plan". And he is indifferent to the internal declarations of the Annan Plan that it will be rendered dead and buried if it is rejected......

Source: Simerini (Lazaros Mavros)