John Koenig, the U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus: Reconciliation is distant in Cyprus

The Center for Sustainable Peace and Democratic Development (SeeD) organized a panel on February 27th 2015 titled 'Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots are Growing Apart: Is it Time to Step out of the Comfort Zone?' At the panel, held in Solidarity House located in the buffer zone of Nicosia, the survey results of the Social Cohesion and Reconciliation (SCORE) Index, which was conducted in partnership with SeeD and UNDP's Action for Cooperation and Trust Program (UNDP-ACT) and financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), were announced.

According to the results, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots are growing increasingly apart from each other. The survey revealed that Turkish Cypriots had a significant decline in their quality of contact between 2013 and 2014, and their tendency to vote "yes" in a possible future referendum has decreased. According to another considerable finding, both communities perceive that the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots are in fact culturally different. The survey tried to answer some questions such as: "To what extent do Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots believe they are represented by their own institutions?" "To what extent do the communities regard each other as a threat factor?" and "How distant or close do the communities see each other?"

John Koenig, the U.S. ambassador to Cyprus, said during his opening speech at the panel that the results of the SCORE Index clearly demonstrate that Cyprus is at a crossroads and reconciliation remains distant, adding that Cypriots should make a decision between the status quo and reconciliation. UNDP-ACT program's coordinator, Christopher Louise, also said that those who were to be influenced by the changes must definitely be involved in the process in order to enable a political change. According to the survey conducted with interviews of 500 people from each community, Greek Cypriots are more in favor of the termination of the status quo while Turkish Cypriots mostly side with federation. The survey also showed that women, youths between 18 and 35 and right-wing proponents object to a political compromise more strongly in the south while only those on the far-right resist it on the north of the island.

John Koenig said that Cyprus is in a turning point. Koenig said “Cypriots must choose their ways. They either choose to improve relations or they will choose the status quo and alienation, a road which is far away from solution.”

According to the information given by US Embassy, in his speech Koenig recorded that research results of the ‘Social Cohesion and Reconciliation Index (SCORE)’ show that Cyprus is in a turning point and bold movements are needed in the island.

Stating that when he came into office in autumn of 2012 there was hope in the island, Koenig indicated that no one has predicted that the ups and downs of the process can take the negotiation process to the point where it is today. Recording that various important incidents happened which affected solution expectancy in Cyprus negotiations, Koenig said “Among these there are economic crises, joint statement and the rocky path of negotiations experienced in the last months”.

Furthermore, Koenig said that the efforts spent for signing the Joint Statement on February 2014 have been allowed to be destroyed in 1 year.

When the results of the SCORE surveys conducted in 2013 and 2014 are compared, the quality of contact and interaction with the other community went from positive to negative and a decrease has been observed in the tendency for reconciliation and to vote "yes" in a future referendum. It was also found that the cultural gap has widened between 2013 and 2014. Among Greek Cypriots, however, no change was observed in the tendencies for reconciliation and to vote "yes" in a future referendum.

Source: Daily Sabah 27/02/2015