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Reunification, Property in North Cyprus, And the Treaty of Guarantee
- By Martin Gavin
- Published 11/15/2008
- Real Estate
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Martin Gavin
Martin Gavin, the resident expert on overseas investment at http://www.whiterocksbafra.com, has a firm grounding in the various aspects of the emerging North Cyprus property boom. For more of his writing, visit http://propertynews.whiterocksbafra.com/
View all articles by Martin Gavin
Reunification sceptics over the Cyprus problem have often used the 'Treaty of Guarantee' agreement, signed in 1960 by Greece, The Republic of Cyprus, the United Kingdom and Turkey, as legal and political evidence for the impossibility of the two sides to reunify; in essence the pessimists claim that North Cyprus, as the TRNC, is in breach of the agreement - which states that the island must remain independent, that all parties recognise its sovereignty - and will have to be answerable to it if the island is to reunify.
And the treaty is also seen as relating to North Cyprus property; if the Turkish occupation of North Cyprus is in violation of the Treaty of Guarantee, then any legal, political or diplomatic domestic changes it has affected in that area, would technically speaking, becoming void.
This is Not a Fact
Technically speaking, certainly, there is an argument for the idea that the TRNC is in violation of the Treaty of Guarantee, and particularly in the difficulty over property ownership in North Cyprus.
But reunification sceptics are using the treaty as evidence on the predication that the document is irreversible; that a reunification of the island would mean a 'return' to the Republic of Cyprus, not an advancement of the island.
Indeed, the Treaty of Guarantee is outdated now, and so is a 'return' to the Republic of Cyprus; the document is now 48 years old, and the original Republic of Cyprus has not been the nation specified in the treaty since 1974, and certainly
not since 1983, when North Cyprus was declared as an independent state.
Dimitris Christofias and Mehmet Ali Talat are Looking to Move Things Forward
So a return to the old way of things is an impossibility. Both Mehmet Ali Talat and Dimitris Christofias will be aware of that fact, and would not be entering into negotiations for a reunification bill if they were not; diplomatic negotiation cannot be predicated on achieving all aims on both sides, so that - even if Christofias believed in the sanctity of the Treat of Guarantee - the treaty in its current manifestation cannot be kept.
So the treaty will have to be changed if the two leaders are to agree on reunification. And, considering that both leaders have repeatedly stressed that their chief goal for their time in office is to solve the Cyprus problem once and for all, to deliver a united island to its people, it seems likely that it will.
North Cyprus Property Will be Safe
Amendment to the treaty would almost certainly mean recognition that, since the TRNC was declared independent in North Cyprus, it has made substantial changes and improvements to the island, and that to revoke them would be detrimental to the island.
With that being the case, the North Cyprus property boom can grow safely and securely as it has been. And, even though sceptics disagree, it could soon grow and develop in an island that is healthy and reunified; politics in Cyprus must not, will not, look to the past.
Christofias and Talat are ready to take the island foward, and it is with that frame of mind that the reunification can be solved.
And the treaty is also seen as relating to North Cyprus property; if the Turkish occupation of North Cyprus is in violation of the Treaty of Guarantee, then any legal, political or diplomatic domestic changes it has affected in that area, would technically speaking, becoming void.
This is Not a Fact
Technically speaking, certainly, there is an argument for the idea that the TRNC is in violation of the Treaty of Guarantee, and particularly in the difficulty over property ownership in North Cyprus.
But reunification sceptics are using the treaty as evidence on the predication that the document is irreversible; that a reunification of the island would mean a 'return' to the Republic of Cyprus, not an advancement of the island.
Indeed, the Treaty of Guarantee is outdated now, and so is a 'return' to the Republic of Cyprus; the document is now 48 years old, and the original Republic of Cyprus has not been the nation specified in the treaty since 1974, and certainly
Dimitris Christofias and Mehmet Ali Talat are Looking to Move Things Forward
So a return to the old way of things is an impossibility. Both Mehmet Ali Talat and Dimitris Christofias will be aware of that fact, and would not be entering into negotiations for a reunification bill if they were not; diplomatic negotiation cannot be predicated on achieving all aims on both sides, so that - even if Christofias believed in the sanctity of the Treat of Guarantee - the treaty in its current manifestation cannot be kept.
So the treaty will have to be changed if the two leaders are to agree on reunification. And, considering that both leaders have repeatedly stressed that their chief goal for their time in office is to solve the Cyprus problem once and for all, to deliver a united island to its people, it seems likely that it will.
North Cyprus Property Will be Safe
Amendment to the treaty would almost certainly mean recognition that, since the TRNC was declared independent in North Cyprus, it has made substantial changes and improvements to the island, and that to revoke them would be detrimental to the island.
With that being the case, the North Cyprus property boom can grow safely and securely as it has been. And, even though sceptics disagree, it could soon grow and develop in an island that is healthy and reunified; politics in Cyprus must not, will not, look to the past.
Christofias and Talat are ready to take the island foward, and it is with that frame of mind that the reunification can be solved.
