The temptation of blaming Turkey's Erdoğan on Cyprus

"Turkey holds key at last-ditch Cyprus talks," was the headline of an analysis published in the EUObserver a few days before the intercommunal talks started in Geneva on Jan. 9.

From this headline you would assume that the Geneva talks are not negotiations or a give-and-take exercise between the two communities on the divided island, but it was an effort aimed at convincing Turkey.

Presenting the talks between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots in Geneva, which is expected to be followed by a conference with the participation of guarantor states; Turkey, Greece and the U.K., would be doing great injustice to Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot side.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan can be harshly, and in most cases, rightly be criticized on several foreign policy issues, but its Cyprus policy is not one of them. 

On the contrary, the Turkish side's decades-long policy, which was perceived by the international community as a lack of desire to find a solution preferring to keep the island divided, was reversed by the AKP, headed by Erdoğan. Many might prefer to forget today that an agreement reached in 2004, called the Annan plan, was turned down by Greek Cypriots who were hardly blamed for failing to reunite the island. Ankara's genuine desire to find a lasting solution based on reciprocal compromise did not change ever since. 

Until the 2000's, any diplomatic meeting between European and Turkish officials would include a part where Ankara would be asked to encourage the Turkish Cypriot side to be less intransigent. That was no longer the case after 2000. On the contrary, it was the Turkish side who kept trying to have the Greek Cypriot side's back on the negotiating table. 
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