Piri Reis, Barbaros and Selim II

It was Turkey’s Piri Reis seismic ship that was, until recent times, reasserting the country’s partnership with Turkish Cyprus over sovereignty and natural resources on and off Cyprus. For decades, the foundation of Ankara’s Cyprus policy has been tit for tat, sometimes proactive but most of the time reactive. If and when the Greek Cypriots did anything to consolidate or reassert their claim of being the “sole legitimate owner” of everything related to Cyprus, Turkish Cypriots, naturally in the absence of their means to retaliate through Turkey’s capabilities, took moves to reaffirm their “partnership status” under the founding agreements, as well as the Constitution of the 1960 partnership state.

There is a fundamental discord. The Greek Cypriots continue to believe that the state and government effectively recognized by the United Nations in March 1964 - even though the Turkish element was expelled at gunpoint by the Greek element - is still the 1960 partnership state, even though the constitution was unilaterally amended and all rights and privileges of Turkish Cypriots were removed. For the Turkish Cypriots, the state might still be the 1960 joint state, but since 1964 the expulsion of the Turkish element from government offices, municipalities and all executive positions has made the administration illegitimate, ensuring that it cannot be the government of the entire island.

Enjoying international recognition, EU membership and, of course, the “sole legitimate government” title, the Greek Cypriot state over the past half century has been attempting to achieve some sort of an osmosis resolution on Cyprus through which Turkish Cypriots would integrate and vanish into the “Cyprus nation.” Turkish Cypriots, however, have...