A Greek, who was a staffer in the office of former Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, looks at the latest blowback from the Syrian conflict and how Victoria Nuland is trying to shoehorn Erdogan’s Turkey into the EU through stepping of Greek Cypriot interests. Lots of historical back-and-forth of this territory makes arguments from history as difficult as in Israel-Palestine.
Here is the sticking point for Konstatakopoulos:
By virtue of the provisions of the “Cyprus settlement” under consideration now, Turkey is invested after January 12 with many of the rights and powers (and none of the obligations) of the member-states. It will also legalize in Geneva, its military presence and its right to intervene militarily inside the European Union.
The issue for the EU, according to Konstatakopoulos is whether they want and Erdogan with reported ambitions of a new Ottoman Empire with the legitimacy to have a military presence inside the European Union. Other than keeping Erdogan in the harness on eradicating Daesh/ISIS/ISIL, why would the US be pushing this gambit at the last minute?
Here’s the neoconservative thinking in this effort beyond the immediacy of stability in Iraq and Syria.
Such an outcome of the Geneva conference will have enormous strategic consequences for Europe and for the Middle East, transforming the whole “Eastern Meditarranean”, a sea lane of vital importance, into a kind of “Mare Nostrum” of the “Naval Forces”, excluding from there any “foreign” strategic influence (German, Russian or Chinese) and laying one more foundation for encircling Russia from the South with a kind of “security belt” and trying to hinder its access to the “warm seas”, a centuries long dream of British imperial planners. It will constitute the deeper change of the Mediterranean strategic landscape, since the eruption of the so-called Eastern Question or, at least, since the Greek national revolution, two centuries ago.
The process by which through “mediation” the US is intervening is where Greek interests object to giving a fig leaf to legitimizing the Turkish occupation of Cyprus.
Anyway, even if those referendums take place, they will not have much sense, as it will be impossible for the inhabitants to return to the status quo ante. The Republic of Cyprus as we know it will be dead and the Turkish military presence on the island legal. As for the voters they will be in front of the choice to accept after all what is too late to change or risk a chaotic situation, if they refuse it post factum.
The plot thickens as to how the historic agreement will unfold:
But this was until December 1st. That day, Mr. Anastasiades has announced to his citizens that he is accepting the proposal without explaining much why he is doing it, what will be the purpose and the agenda of this strange conference. He did not consult with political parties in the island or the Greek government before announcing his decision. The most absolute confusion was reigning in the island, until December 27, when the leader of the Turkish Cypriots Mr. Akinci, speaking to the Turkish Cypriot media, probably to warn Anastasiades not to deviate from what they had already agreed in secret, explained a little bit what will happen in Geneva.
According to what he said the Republic of Cyprus will not be present in the Geneva conference. All documents there will be signed by the “new Cyprus federation to be constituted”. In that way he revealed the real purpose of the operation, which is no other than to abolish the existing state in Cyprus (we repeat, a member of UN and the EU) and to create a new one, without asking the opinion of the citizens, without electing a Constitutional Assembly and without any authorization from anybody to do that. In that case, we don’t speak even about an operation of regime change. We have to speak about “country change”.
Of course, Russia is working the diplomatic and propaganda mechanisms to avoid this, even negotiating directly with Erdogan. No doubt Putin’s argument might run to ask why all of a sudden does the US want to engineer this sort of a fig leaf for Turkish admission to the EU. And what good after Brexit is the EU relative to Turkish interests anyway?
It is clear that Greek Cypriots see this as detrimental to their interests? Do Turkish Cypriots?
Given the political endorsements of the Kagan clan, I would doubt that Victoria Nuland remains in her position. Whether she will offer a courtesy resignation is something to watch for.
Is there ethnic bigotry in the characterization of the new agreement as being Bosnia-like? Likely there is given the history of the conflict.
What would Nuland’s last move leave behind as the legacy of her tenure as the most visible neoconservative Assistant Secretary of State of European and Eurasian Affairs in history?
