Emin Colasan: Some truths about Northern Cyprus

Here's what they say: "We will tear down the wall on our side and open up Ledra Street. But the Turkish and Northern Cypriot flags here must come down, and you must close down your customs building. And you must pull your Turkish soldiers out of Nicosia."
 
But we are not committed to making concessions to the Greek side of Cyprus! And now, surprises of surprises, you see that the Turkish soldiers are not willing to accept these requests by the Greek side.

Anyway, Talat came to Ankara and met with the Foreign Minister. He was in support of the requests made by the Greek Cypriots. And so he and the Foreign Minister get up and go together to the Turkish military's General Staff headquarters, where General Buyukanit and the other commanders mention their worries on this matter, and express their lack of support for the destruction of the controversial overpass.

In a statement made after his meetings with the military, Talat said "We did not speak about the Lokmaci Gate matter." Right after this though, the General Staff issued a statement saying the opposite, noting that in fact the matter did come up, and that Talat was not telling the truth.

Up until now, I have written the short version of everything that has taken place in recent days on this matter.

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But just look at what we are really dealing with: the Greek Cypriots want the Turkish side to remove flags which represent a sovereign government. They want the Turkish soldiers to be removed from Nicosia. Meanwhile, some in Ankara and in our government actually look warmly on these requests. Why? Because they believe that in giving more concessions to the Greek Cypriots, we will look good to the EU!

 And so yesterday, following the orders of Talat, the Lokmaci Gate overpass began to be dismantled. And so once again, we have blinked in the face of both the Greek Cypriots and the EU. The German Ambassador to Ankara spoke of the recent developments with words of praise yesterday. And I ask, can this blinking, this destruction of the overpass-despite what the military supports or doesn't support-actually take place without the knowledge and the permission of the AKP government? Of course not.

In any case, neither the removal of the Turkish and Northern Cypriot flags nor of the Turkish soldiers has taken place; the only step that the Northern Cypriot government has taken, in the face of lack of support from the Turkish military, has been the destruction of the overpass.
 
Here is what Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday in reference to questions about Lokmaci from reporters:
 
"Is there no president or republic over there? In the end, it's their decision. And so what falls to us is to respect these decisions. The Northern Cypriot Turkish Republic has made its decision."

But wait, let's make sure there's no mistake here.....after all, one day there might be a decision from the "president or republic over there" that leaves us all gaping in surprise! For example, how would the following be?: "According to a decision made yesterday by the President and our government, Northern Cyprus is calling on Turkish soldiers to leave our nation as we are independent and sovereign, and is announcing that we are uniting with the Greek side of the island."

We learned something else from Tayyip Erdogan's words too yesterday: apparently, Northern Cyprus makes its decisions without conferring with Turkey! Maybe then our prime minister will make another announcment, something like this:
 
"Is there no president or republic over there? In the end, the decision is theirs to make. The Northern Cypriots have decided to unite with the Greek Cypriots. What falls to us it to respect this decision. May it be for all the best."

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There are some things it would behoove us to learn, and learn well. The current state of affairs is in fact perfectly suited to the mentality of those running Northern Cyprus today. But of course, they are not able to express themselves so concretely in public. If they were completely free, here is what most of those leading Northern Cyprus would say: "Hey Turkey, let go of our coattails! We are Cypriot. Leave us alone with the Greek Cypriots, let us unite with them. That's where our real interests lie after all. They are rich, we are poor. They carry EU passports in their pockets. So pull out your soldiers, and we'll take care of ourselves, together with our Greek counterparts."

 
Some of our current leaders in Ankara think the same too. But of course, they can't actually express this in public either. Here's what they're really thinking:
 
"The Northern Cypriots are a load on our backs. They block us from entering the EU, and they are a financial strain too. If only it weren't for the Turkish public, and if only we could give a few more concessions to the Greek Cypriots, if only we could put Northern Cyprus up for sale, how great that would be. We would open our path into the EU, as well as relieve ourselves of the financial strain Northern Cyprus is causing us. Hopefully, those days will come along soon. Ah, if only there weren't elections this year....!!!!"