Reunion passes Cypriots by

The latest round of Cyprus talks collapsed once again due to what Turkish Cypriots claimed were the "maximalist demands" of the Greek Cypriot side, and Greek Cypriots lamented the uncompromising position of the Turks. Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akıncı has most probably earned the title of being "the saddest Cypriot." 

His spokesman was unable to hide the tears pouring down his face during the disclosure early on Nov. 22 that 18 months of talks with the Greek Cypriot side for a federal reunion on the island had failed, like all other similar efforts over the past 48 years. Would the late Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktaş and the late Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Klerides believe that when they first started the Cyprus intercommunal talks in 1968 at a Beirut hotel, the power-sharing problem between their two people would not be solved over the next 50 years?

The talks apparently collapsed over a set of last-minute hurdles headed by Greece conditioning its participation in a five-party international conference - the representatives of the people of the two sides of the island and leaders of three guarantor powers, Turkey, Greece and Britain - to immediate Turkish Cypriot acceptance that the international conference convene to scrap the 1960 guarantee scheme completely. A second major obstacle was the "maximalist territorial demands" of the Greek Cypriot side, according to Barış Burcu, the spokesman of Akıncı. According to Burcu, the Greek Cypriots sat in weekend talks demanding "as their first and last offer" the return of a piece of territory where they could relocate 78,000 to 92,000 refugees, stuck to that position and did not move an inch even while fully aware that every increase would mean rendering more Turkish Cypriots refugees. All...