National Council Fails to Agree - Opinion

What a surprise. Not even the National Council knows how to solve the Cyprus problem, as they tacitly admitted last night after meeting a total of six times to discuss the various issues involved.

This is not something that makes us citizens feel warm and fuzzy, to say the least. Every day we hear talk of the Greek-Cypriot side and the Turkish-Cypriot side and it looks there is also a DIKO side and a DISY side and an AKEL side, and EVROKO side and so on ad infinitum. Well, if they can't even reach the point of making a joint statement on their vision, how on earth is the division in our society going to be solved?

And that goes for the Turkish-Cypriot administration as well. They also can't get their stories straight. Talat wanted a federation, Eroglu wants a confederation and Turkey wants two separate states. So now we have to add a UBP side, a Turkey side and so on into the equation. Now this is looking like a mathematical problem that not even Einstein could solve.

And do you know why? This current political confusion stems from one root...the presence of active Turkish troops on the island. That is why we are faced with so much resistance to a solution from all sides of the situation. These armed troops heighten insecurity from any perspective.

That is surely something that everyone can unite on. Can the Turkish-Cypriots truly believe that they are in danger from the Greek-Cypriots? It is not the 1960's anymore, it is 2010 - to state the obvious one more time. If there were to be intercommunal fighting once again, it would have happened in 2004 when the borders opened and the Greek-Cypriots had access to see their homes, now lived in by Turkish Cypriots and foreign buyers. It is a bitter pill to swallow, but still there has been no violence between the communities.

So if we look at the situation in 2010, what do we see? 40,000 armed Turkish troops occupying a third of the island for no good reason.

One of the sides has to give a little to show goodwill - it is Turkey's turn to offer a gesture of peace that is not simply words but action. Because as society divides into even more factions, nobody's interests will be served in the long term, and if Turkey wants peace in the region, it must also actively consider ways to improve the relationship between the Turkish and Greek Cypriots.

Removing their army of war would be a good first step towards creating unity between the communities and showing the world that a powerful nation can work for peace in a constructive manner.