Cyprus talks on the rocks over school history rule

Turkey’s foreign minister on Tuesday called on the Greek Cypriot leader to scrap a rule forcing schools to commemorate efforts to unify Cyprus with Greece — or risk derailing the island’s fragile reunification talks.

Tensions between the Turkish and Greek Cypriot sides of the island have been running high since the Greek Cypriot parliament passed a rule earlier this month requiring public schools to mark the anniversary of the 1950 referendum, known as the Enosis vote. (Enosis is the Greek word for union.)

Greek Cypriots see the Enosis vote as the island’s first step toward independence from Britain, whereas Turkish Cypriots see it as the start of a long and bloody conflict that ended with island’s division in 1974.

Speaking to journalists after meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akıncı in Northern Cyprus on Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Ankara still supports efforts to reunify the island, and urged the Greek Cypriot side to “correct the mistake” made with the education rule, Turkish Cypriot media reported.

“The Greek Cypriot side’s Enosis decision has revealed their true intentions” — Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu

“The Greek Cypriot side’s Enosis decision has revealed their true intentions,” Çavuşoğlu said, adding that the “unfortunate” timing was significant, according to the newspaper Kıbrıs Gazetes.

Negotiations to reunify Cyprus hit the rocks in January, when Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and Akıncı met in Geneva for the first-ever international summit to address the last, and toughest, issue in the talks — the powers that Turkey, Greece and the U.K. were granted in 1960 to guarantee the island’s security and independence, and the future of more than 30,000 Turkish troops stationed in Northern Cyprus.

The meeting at the United Nations ended earlier than expected following disagreements between the Greek and Turkish sides. Following more talks this month, Anastasiades and Akıncı aim to return to Geneva for another international conference in the second half of March.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, center, with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akıncı, left, and Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades in November | Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images

But the move to commemorate the attempted unification with Greece has thrown an unexpected spanner in the works, after nearly two years of intense talks.

A touchy subject

The Enosis regulation requires public schools to commemorate the anniversary of the referendum. The vote in 1950 was limited to Greek Cypriots, who voted 95.7 percent in favor of unifying with Greece.

How the rule made its way on to the statute books — as part of a broader education bill — is also significant because it was an amendment from the far-right National Popular Front party, or ELAM, which only made it into parliament last spring, winning two seats.

ELAM, which has ties to Greece’s extreme-right Golden Dawn, opposes the creation of a federal government overseeing two constituent states, as Anastasiades and Akıncı hope to create. Instead, it argues Cyprus needs to get rid of the Turkish occupation in the north.

But the amendment won support from all of the parliament’s parties except the two biggest; Anastasiades’ center-right Democratic Rally abstained, leaving communist AKEL alone in voting against.

It sparked outrage on the Turkish Cypriot side. Akıncı said the rule “sows the seeds of division” among young people and called on U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres to force the Greek Cypriots to rescind the law.

A meeting between the two leaders on Friday ended sourly, with Akıncı saying Anastasiades walked out “and slammed the door hard” without reassuring the Turkish Cypriot side that he would take steps to undo the decision, as Akıncı wanted.

“In the minds of Turkish Cypriots, the Enosis idea is the start of the inter-communal conflict between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots” — Armağan Candan

Anastasiades doesn’t have the power to block a regulation passed by the parliament, but Turkish Cypriots hoped he would denounce it and put pressure on MPs to scrap it. However, the president is also under pressure from smaller political parties on the left and right as he begins to campaign for reelection in 2018.

“This decision by the Greek Cypriot parliament was condemned by all sections of the Turkish Cypriot community, from left to right, pro-federal solution and the rest,” said Armağan Candan, a member of the Turkish Cypriot parliament from the center-left, pro-reunification Republican Turkish Party. “In the minds of Turkish Cypriots, the Enosis idea is the start of the inter-communal conflict between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.”

To ELAM, however, the rule isn’t about offending Turkish Cypriots, it’s about commemorating Cyprus’ first act of self-determination before it became independent in 1960, said Andreas Giallourides from the party’s international secretariat of foreign relations.

Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci (R) holds a press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu after a meeting on February 21, 2017, in the northern part of Nicosia | Birol Bebek/AFP via Getty Images

“We consider it quite important not only for the Greek Cypriot community but in general for the people of Cyprus,” he said. “If you don’t have a major in history, in high school it’s something that students don’t know about.”

Offending the Turkish Cypriot side “wasn’t a concern,” Giallourides added.

The island was divided after Turkey invaded in 1974. Anastasiades’ Greek Cypriot government is now recognized around the world except in Turkey. Akıncı’s Turkish Cypriot government isn’t recognized anywhere except in Turkey.

While the smaller Turkish Cypriot population tends to more strongly favor reunification, it is also nervous about pushing Turkey out and being swallowed up by the Greek Cypriot side. The Enosis rule — and ELAM’s election to parliament last year — amplified that concern, Candan said, pointing to stories of attacks against Turkish Cypriots.

“All of these things we hear and see, attacks by ELAM people on Turkish Cypriot cars and sometimes people in the last six or seven years, it really makes Turkish Cypriots nervous.”