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A new chance for Cyprus
A new chance for Cyprus
By Martti Ahtisaari, Emma Bonino, Albert Rohan, and Nathalie Tocci, New Vision, 26 Aug 2015
The Greek crisis may seem unending, but there are hints that a problem festering in Europe for far longer – the division of Cyprus – may be moving toward resolution.
For the first time since 2004, there is a fragile alignment of the political stars over the eastern Mediterranean. As the Middle East continues to unravel and European unity grows increasingly fragile, the opportunity to put an end to the conflict in Cyprus is one that Europe cannot afford to ignore.
There has been little reason for optimism during the decade that has passed since the last serious attempt to overcome the island’s division. The proposal in 2004 by then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan would have united the island by creating a federation of two states. But while Turkish Cypriots embraced the so-called Annan Plan, Greek Cypriots rejected it in a referendum one week before the Republic of Cyprus entered the European Union.
Since then, repeated attempts at relaunching the peace process have ended in failure. Incentives for resolving the conflict rarely emerged, and invariably on only one side or the other, but not both. And, while hope for a solution was dim, the risk of escalation remained low; thus, as security concerns flared up elsewhere, the 40-year-old conflict largely disappeared from the international agenda.
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Martti Ahtisaari is former President of Finland and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Emma Bonino is former Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the founder of the international NGO No Peace Without Justice. Albert Rohan is former Secretary-General of Austria’s foreign ministry. Nathalie Tocci is Deputy Director of the Institute for International Affairs and Special Adviser to the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.