SAIS looks at the Cyprus problem

August 20, 2009 | Observer Staff | Comments 0

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The Conflict Management Field Trip

By Niv Elis

As bombs were falling in nearby Gaza, a group of 20 SAIS students and professors gathered in Cyprus for the 4th Conflict Management field trip. Like previous trips to Haiti and Northern Ireland, the program included high-level meetings with political leaders, academics, civil society groups, and multi-lateral organizations to present views of the conflict from a multitude of angles. Amidst the busy meetings and talk of conflict, the colorful silhouettes of families that adorn the Ledra Street border crossing in Nicosia, the world’s last divided city, did not convey a sense of brutal conflict. Students pondered why a conflict that had not seen widespread violence in nearly 35 years remained frozen and unresolved.

The conflict of Cyprus is unique and interesting to study. Cyprus, created by treaty in 1960, is a divided island with a dichotomy of Greek-identified and Turkish-identified Cypriots. When the military junta ruling Greece attempted to integrate the entirety of the island in 1974, the Turkish military rebuffed on authority of the founding “treaty of guarantee.” In the violence that ensued, the Turkish and Greek Cypriots segregated, establishing the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC – recognized only by Turkey), the Greek Cypriot Republic of Cyprus in the South (recognized by everyone but Turkey), and a well-guarded UN buffer zone in between.

EU membership is a major bone of contention. The Republic of Cyprus acceded into the EU after voting overwhelmingly against a UN-sponsored reunification plan in a 2004 referendum, on which the Turkish side voted “Yes” in similarly overwhelming proportions. Because the whole island is technically in the EU, residents of the North, whose unrecognized government is not in compliance with EU regulations and standards have ambiguous EU status.

With an impressive level of access, a testament to both the name recognition of SAIS and the networking abilities of Professors I. William Zartman and Phillip T. Hoppman, SAIS students were able to examine all sides of the conflict. Before even leaving Washington, the group met with ambassadors and representatives from the EU, Greece, the TRNC, and the Republic of Cyprus.

Among the highlights of the trip were meetings with the pro-negotiations President of the unrecognized government of the TRNC, Mehmet Talat. Taking advantage of the rare opportunity to question the President of an unrecognized government, the students were surprised to learn that recognition was a secondary goal to reunification for Turkish Cypriots.

Even Serdar Denktas, the leader of the Democratic Party and son of the intransigent former TRNC President Rauf Denktas, agreed that a “bi-zonal, bi-communal, federal solution” would be acceptable, despite preferences for “taksim,” a two-state solution.

In the Republic of Cyprus, the group met with the mayor of Nicosia, the divided capital city, who described the successful cooperation with Turkish Cypriot elected leaders for practical issues such as sewage. She pointed out that to get around the issue of non-reconition, the Greek Cypriots had to consider their counterparts as private citizens, not as mayors. One participant noted that cooperation seems to be possible among even the worst of enemies if the alternative is “swimming in your own excrement.”

Other meetings included university professors, political party leaders, think tank participants, and one delightful evening of Cypriot wine and food.  On a tour of the U.N. buffer zone, the group saw sections of Nicosia frozen in time since the inception of the buffer zone in 1974, including advertisements, stores, and cars abandoned in the fighting. The UN commanders, some of whom had served in places like Darfur, emphasized the difference in their experiences: in Darfur, violations included murders, shootings, village raids, and rape; in Cyprus, complaints included people painting barrels around the guard posts, and disputes over whether the buffer zone started at building fronts or the edge of the balconies protruding from those buildings. Even recollections of violence were tinged with absurdity; the last act of violence, sometime in the early 1980’s, involved a Turkish Cypriot guard shooting a Greek Cypriot who had run across the buffer zone, stolen the Turkish flag, and bared his bottom in taunting.

Since returning from Cyprus the group has met with former UN Special Envoy to Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, and a representative from the Turkish Embassy. Using the rich material from meetings, interviews and field observation, the participants returned from Cyprus and continued their work through papers on the various aspects of analysis on the conflict and recommendations for how to move forward. The papers will be edited, compiled into a book, and sent to the various groups with which SAISers met, in hopes that they will take the students’ suggestions to heart.

For students of conflict management, the trip is one of the best opportunities to put the theory of their classes into practice; a quick glance through SAISworks will reveal very few postings for “Conflict Managers,” making the experience unique indeed.

The willingness of the Greek and Turkish Cypriots to come back to the negotiating table has created hope that 2009 will be a year of progress for a conflict that all agree has needlessly persisted too long. Hopefully, the suggestions and ideas put forth by the Conflict Management field trip participants will help push the process along.

Niv Ellis is a second year M.A. candidate in Conflict Management.

Filed Under: Featured • February 2009 • News