Myths can be innocent but deliberate and systematic myth making is a cruel game that manipulates people's intelligence and divides them, keeping them as far away as possible from interpreting what is actually happening around them

MYTH 1

For instance, despite the fact that the two Cypriot leaders are in the midst of ongoing negotiations and despite the restraint on making the contents of these talks known, some politicians like Tahsin Ertugruloglu and surprisingly CTP’s Hasan Ercakica insist that the Treaties of Guarantee are indispensable and will have to remain. 

Is Guarantorship really indispensable? Can we afford to be stubborn so early on in the negotiations? Is it right to put this kind of pressure on the Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat? Can we exclude other security solutions beside the Treaty of Guarantee? Do the two leaders not deserve some space to maneuver in their negotiations? And is it morally right to present the Turkish Cypriot with such expectations?

The Treaty of Guarantee as a security solution has long been a major source of contention between the two main Cypriot communities, as it is considered highly unacceptable by our Greek Cypriot fellow citizens. The idea is also considered anachronistic by many Turkish Cypriots too. This has recently prompted a debate on other security solutions by academics such as Costas Carras. So can we claim it is indispensable? In no part of the world and in no point in history have community leaders or leaders of states entered negotiations maintaining their demands throughout while extracting all of what they want from the opposing party. Negotiations are as much about give as well as take. Indisputably, such intransigence and 1964 rhetoric by political dinosaurs standing on their last legs is hardly a good strategy for future peace.

MYTH 2

Myth no.2 which is equally popular but which also has no basis is the Confederal and Czechoslovak solution model for Cyprus. The model is one where a ‘Turkish Cypriot Republic’ joins together with a ‘Greek Cypriot Republic’ in a ‘loose federation’ with a weak federal government. Sadly, there is no Czechoslovak model alive to guide us today since that model died with the divorce of Czechoslovakia in 1993. But even if we look at it as a historical model, the Czechoslovak model is hardly one we ought to follow. Firstly, it died because it was a failure and no model for Cyprus ought to be a failure if our aim is to make our federation work and secondly, as Vladimir Goněc points out in his work ‘Soviet Federalism and Czechoslovak Federalism’, it was a flawed system. Unlike Cyprus, anthropologically and historically Cypriots –Czechs and Slovaks have little in common. While Czechs and Slovaks each had their own national identities dating back centuries with their own separate territories, the Cypriots on the other hand shared the same culture and affinity to their island, coexisted and inter-mingled in mixed villages and towns for 500 years. There was never a separation of territory and even now the proposed zones are still very much an artificial and futuristic idea but not one that corresponds to people’s origins and regional affinities.

Furthermore, the Czechoslovak model itself produces many inquiries. Principle among them is the question: If there a Turkish Cypriot Republic is needed for this federation then where is the Greek Cypriot Republic?

Clearly, if you look at life from a north Nicosian perspective you might be tempted to think that the Greek Cypriot Republic could be the 'Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus' as BRTK and other northern Cypriot channels routinely refer to it. But what is overlooked it that this is not the case legally or internationally, including I might add in many quarters in Turkey.

Although the Republic of Cyprus government is undeniably and lamentably controlled exclusively by Greek Cypriots, a situation I disagree with 100% and hope will change, there is no avoiding the fact that the ‘south’ is NOT a Greek Cypriot Republic. Rebel or not, the Republic of Cyprus is a state recognised by some 194 countries in the world (including with semi recognition from Turkey); it is a major tourist destination; a member of the UN, Council of Europe, the Commonwealth and the European Union, and the Eurozone.

The fact that the government of the Republic of Cyprus is controlled by Greek Cypriots is a separate issue and the fact the north has temporary derogations from EU law pending a solution does not legally de-recognize the Republic in any way.

So one must repeat the question: where is the Greek Cypriot Republic? For this Republic to exist before we create a Czechoslovak Federal model, the Republic of Cyprus would have to abolish itself and unilaterally re-declare itself the Greek Republic of Southern Cyprus (GRSC). A process similar to that that occurred in the north...

Is this likely?  Do you honestly expect the Republic of Cyprus to abolish itself? Are those who suggest such a ludicrous idea unaware of the fact that a) there is no demand in the south to succeed from the Republic by the population there, b) such an act would amount to the Republic would reversing its own 34 year policy by effectively recognizing the TRNC, c) the overall feeling in the south is that in order to satisfy Turkish Cypriot citizens of the Republic, a federal solution would be accepted but one which emphasizes the unity of the federation.

Therefore, it would be naive to presume the Greek Cypriots would accept this, unless your aim is to find a deadlock.  

MYTH 3

Another important myth is that many people have been led to believe that a federation will be a brand-new state founded from scratch replacing both the TRNC and the Republic of Cyprus, and with nothing to do with the ‘Greek Cypriot Administration’ which we are taught to denounce. But if a federation is agreed, for reasons of practicality and logic technically it will not be a new state at all but more likely one built with great adjustments on the existing foundations of the Republic of Cyprus. For reasons of local practicality 'state' structures in the north may also be maintained but converted and integrated into the existing structures of the Republic to some degree either temporarily or otherwise for the transition of reunification to be a smooth process. 
 

OBLITERATE THOSE MYTHS

As you can see some of the demands made by circles in our community opposing the negotiations are so incredible that it is as if the thinkers of these great cunning ideas are either really naïve or have a hidden motive. This is where myth making kicks into action. Myths in Cyprus are crafted and designed to blind people to what is happening and what to expect. It is a cruel game of manipulation played by those who seek in their organized efforts to cause deadlock. The game is to create an unbelievable and unrealizable goal that no side can ever accept so that after there is failure, the community in question (let’s say for example the Turkish Cypriots) can be made to feel as if they are hard done by or as if Greek Cypriots are blocking their development and are therefore their natural enemies. Those sucked in by these myths are often made to feel like the helpless victims leading them to get angry, frustrated and resentment; usually the first steps to subscribing to nationalism. As English writer George Orwell once predicted these “myths which are believed in tend to become true.” Unsurprisingly it is these false obstacles that are then used to prove “I told you so…” In true manipulative style, opponents of peace present a situation they have help create to somehow ‘prove’ that Cypriots cannot agree on anything, that: “Those Greeks are discriminating against us poor Turkish Cypriots again, so how can we reunite? It would be better to stay divided.....”