Cyprus: a never ending partition?

euronews (in English)

Cyprus: a never ending partition?  Informal discussions were held this spring under the auspices of the UN, in hopes of reigniting reunification talks between the Greek-Cypriot-led Republic of Cyprus in the south, and the Turkish Cypriot breakaway entity in the north. More talks are due in July.  READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/07/02/cyprus-a-never-ending-partition  Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages

Transcript

00:00My generation is dropping down the blame game.

00:04We have to think ourselves as part of the whole that we are, whether we like it or not.

00:11And come together for a reunited island.

00:16I am in the Tampon area that marks the separation of the Mediterranean island

00:21divided for 50 years.

00:23The UN wants to talk again to reunify the Greek community

00:28from the Republic of Chypre to the South, members of the European Union

00:32and the Turkish-Chypriot-Turk-Nord that only knows Turkey.

00:37Those projects already anciens reunification that have never been able to.

00:51Chypre is a country insular of the Middle Eastern Mediterranean

00:54to the European Union, the Middle East and Africa.

00:58It divided since 1974, when a coup d'Etat soutenu by Greece and Byzantin annexes l'île

01:04led to a military military attack in the north of Chypre.

01:08Environ 200.000 Chypriotes grecs et turcs furent déplacés.

01:11The Republic of Chypre, recognized internationally,

01:14has no control over the south of Lille, where live the Chypriotes grecs.

01:17She has no control over the Republic of Chypre to the North,

01:21regrouping the Chypriotes turcs and many immigrants of Turkey.

01:26This entity is recognized only by Turkey, which maintains its army.

01:31Chypre is a member of the European Union,

01:33but the community rights does not apply in the north.

01:36For Europe, Chypre is a key for the regional stability

01:39and the control of the immigration.

01:41The access to the reserves of gas offshore

01:42of the country, blocked by Turkey,

01:44is also an issue for the European energy security.

01:48The Union soutenu a plan of a bi-community

01:51composed of two zones,

01:53recognized by the UN.

01:54But the negotiations on the reunification of Chypre

01:57are at point of time since 2017.

02:04The discussions are in order to release,

02:06once again,

02:07but to talk about a possible reunification of Chypre

02:10divided for 50 years.

02:12The issue is still uncertain,

02:15but I wanted to ask the young Chypriotes

02:18of the Turkish and Greek communities

02:20to know how they live this division

02:23but also how they envision their future.

02:28Hi, I'm Berk.

02:30We are here in Elefteria Square, in Nicosia.

02:33I wanted to be here today

02:35because Elefteria, in Greek,

02:38is good looking Turkish, means freedom.

02:43Hi everyone, I'm Christiana

02:45and we are now in one of my favorite places

02:47in the north of Nicosia.

02:49This place symbolizes for me community and coexistence,

02:52as it is the first social housing project

02:55ever completed in Cyprus.

02:57Berk, 28 ans, is Chypriote turc.

03:01Christiana, 22 ans, is Chypriote grec.

03:04We are here now in Littra Street,

03:06the main high street of Southern Nicosia.

03:09I like to come here because it's multicultural,

03:11it's nice and makes me feel like,

03:13as a person lives on the northern part of the divide,

03:15that I live in a normal city.

03:17I cross to the north almost every day.

03:19With my friends, we try to have a common life,

03:20as much as we can.

03:21I will try to ignore the checkpoints.

03:22We usually do a coffee in the north in the morning,

03:23and drink in the south in the evening,

03:24and that's how it usually goes.

03:26Christiana et Berk se connaissent bien.

03:28Leur amitié est née d'un combat commun pour une réunification de l'île.

03:33Ils nous parlent de leur engagement dans ce café du nord de Nicosia,

03:38connu pour ses activités bicommunautaires.

03:43Christiana et Berk se connaissent bien.

03:45Leur amitié est née d'un combat commun pour une réunification de l'île.

03:50Ils nous parlent de leur engagement dans ce café du nord de Nicosia,

03:54connu pour ses activités bicommunautaires.

03:58I grew up in the occupied areas of the Republic of Cyprus,

04:04and then I first-hand experienced what it means to be a European citizen,

04:14but technically do not live in the EU,

04:17where EU acquis est en force.

04:19Your rights are suspended, there's corruption,

04:22and then of course all the other illegalities

04:26that come with this place being a legal, internationally black hole.

04:32This geography does not ratify any international humanitarian law.

04:38Even Interpol cannot have access to it.

04:40This pushes the mafia, this pushes human trafficking,

04:44this pushes sex trafficking.

04:47I believe the only way out for us is the Acreed European Framework,

04:51which is a bi-zonal, bicommunal federation,

04:54as Cyprus being fully reunified in the European Union,

04:58where the EU acquis is applied all across the island.

05:02For me, the end goal is to have a completely new narrative.

05:07You have a narrative shaping the identity of the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot,

05:12in our education, in our everyday life,

05:15and you have this whole construction of the other person

05:18that you never really get to meet.

05:21What we need are more common spaces,

05:24more exposure to whatever we deem as the other,

05:28so that it is not a threat anymore.

05:31This is not something that is being encouraged to happen on a larger scale.

05:37If we carry on the way we do now,

05:40with the idea of the Federation taking such a big part on political discourse,

05:45but no practical action towards that,

05:48then nothing will happen.

05:50We have to think of ourselves as part of the whole that we are,

05:55whether we like it or not.

05:57Otherwise, we are not going any further.

06:01The outlook of the negotiations for a reunification of Chypre,

06:04pushed by the UN, are more than uncertain

06:06in the eyes of this political professor at the University of Nicosie

06:09and director of Friedrich Hebert Foundation at Chypre.

06:14It doesn't look promising at all.

06:19We haven't had talks in seven years,

06:21and the Turkish Cypriot and Turkish position has shifted.

06:24They insist on the recognition of equal sovereignty

06:26or even the recognition of the separatist entity

06:29the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,

06:31which is not internationally recognized as a prerequisite for talks.

06:35It's a non-starter.

06:36The Greek Cypriot side and the international community

06:38will never accept this as a prerequisite.

06:41Can the European Union have any say in this,

06:44and what's at stake for Europe?

06:47Well, Europe has a say in it, but a very minor one.

06:51Given that the Greek Cypriot-dominated Republic of Cyprus

06:53has joined the European Union,

06:55the European Union is no longer perceived as a neutral arbiter in the conflict.

07:00So Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots reject an active role of the European Union,

07:04exceeding giving some framework ideas what is acceptable or not.

07:09In theory, its stake is that there's a part of European territory, legally speaking,

07:13that's occupied by Turkey.

07:15There's an unresolved dispute that permanently pitches the European Union against Turkey,

07:19with many powerful EU member states having no interest in a confrontation with Turkey,

07:24while a Greek Cypriot policy is to utilize the EU membership against Turkey

07:28to get concessions in the Cyprus question.

07:30So the Cyprus problem has become a European problem.

07:33At the same time, this is a stable conflict,

07:35so it's very much conflict management rather than conflict resolution,

07:39and I fear this is there for years to come.

07:41So this island is slowly drifting by maintaining the status quo into permanent petition.

Category

Transcript

Recommended