It’s been a sad thing for a reunification supporter like myself to watch over the last months, but it has to be said at this point.

Turkish-Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci has submitted to the pressure and completed his transformation into Turkey’s puppet. He has predictably fallen right into line with the invader and occupier’s policy of dictating to Cyprus and to the Turkish Cypriots.

Akinci has gone from standing up for an independent, invasion-free country to advocating all the old, bankrupt and failed policies of guarantees by third ex-colonial countries; rotating presidency (would the US have a presidency that rotated based on religion and ethnicity?); and weighted votes (will the EU accept into law a minority-weighted vote?) When Turkey joins the EU, can it then claim to rule the European Parliament because it is a minority in the overall EU population? This is what a minority-weighted vote would mean in a wider legal sense.

For that matter, what has Turkey’s government ever done for its own minorities but try to repress them and even nullify their existence through ethnic cleansing?

True political equality is one man, one vote

No attention is being paid to true political equality - meaning one man, one vote, as it’s done in all mature democracies.

We’ve seen this puppet before, in Mehmet Ali Talat, Dervis Eroglu, and in Rauf Denktash, and quite frankly, it’s getting really boring. In the Cypriot political shadow theatre, the same old puppets are appearing over and over again; the Hellenic ethnic extremist, the pro-Turkish hardliner, both beating each other over the head with their dogma sticks, and we as citizens expect something new and constructive?

Isn’t the definition of madness doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result?

Even with the best will in the world, if these talks don’t get real soon, they’ll go the way of the previous rounds, absolutely nowhere.

Some straight talking

Name any democracy in the world in which a minority has an unfair weight in its representation, the effort in successful democracies is always towards fair and proportional representation, otherwise the apartheid government in South Africa would still be in power - it was a minority ruling the majority, and it didn’t work. So how can this be the basis of a united Cyprus?

Human rights are universal, and applicable to each individual, not simply to one ethnic or religious group.

Church and state must be separated for a democracy to work effectively, so how can a religion be the basis of a participating group in Cyprus? With all due respect to individual religions, a Muslim or an Orthodox Cypriot has the right to practice their religion but not to make it a part of the state’s functions or the basis of the right to vote.

What’s needed

We all need to stop feeling helpless in the face of the occupier and dictator and think more clearly.

Basing a solution on universal human and democratic rights is the only way forward. No special treatment for any citizen on the basis of religion or ethnicity, we are all equal and the House of Representatives should proportionally represent all citizens in Cyprus who have the legal and ethical right to vote.

When this basic fairness is introduced into the peace talks, and the leaders think of fresh approaches instead of the failed policies of the past, we might have a chance at reunification.

It all started so well, with the leaders showing a united front to the rest of the population, and showing friendship. That was really encouraging to everyone and generally accepted. But this positivity is not extended by any means to Turkey, which continues its occupation and manipulation of the Turkish-Cypriot community, holding it as a hostage to its regional policy of controlling the countries around it.

Most recently, Turkey has invaded Iraq with its troops, flanking the Peshmerga Kurds and continuing its ambivalent policy towards the Sunni terrorist group Daesh. Nobody’s sure of its intentions, but if we look at Turkey’s history, it’s using its usual tactic of taking advantage of a dispute in a neighboring country as an excuse to occupy foreign territory. Turkey has not directly joined the battle against ISIS being carried out by France and Russia in Syria, instead, like it did in Cyprus against Greece, it is stealing into the Syria war from the back door - Iraq.

Can we expect anything better from Turkey?

Mr. Akinci, you used to have principles as a native Cypriot, remember what they are and start standing up for your country’s rights, not for legalising Turkey’s invasion and occupation.