Greek Cypriot has rhetoric has toughened up because it is aware North Cyprus can be legitimised without formal diplomatic recognition.
James Ker-Lindsay of the London School of Economics (right) chairing a meeting with Turkish Cypriot chief negotiator Kudret Özersay in June 2014
That is the view of James Ker-Lindsay, a senior research fellow at the London School of Economics, who told Londra Gazete on Wednesday that territories like Taiwan have managed to gani legitimacy without formal diplomatic recognition.
“Direct flights, participating in sporting events – these are steps short of recognition which can be seen as granting some sort of acceptance not only of Turkish Cypriot officials but of the TRNC,” he said.
“There has certainly been a toughening up by the Cypriot government on this. In the last few months it issued a statement in which it said it was very concerned about foreign diplomats based in Cyprus going over to the north and having meetings with Turkish Cypriot officials.”
Dr Ker-Lindsay said the Republic of Cyprus was “very confident” that no country will recognise the Turkish Republic of Cyprus diplomatically, even though its rhetoric towards the north has changed markedly in recent months.
“Perhaps they felt the fact they weren’t complaining loudly enough would open the gates [to legitimising North Cyprus]. This is trying to make clear that they do mind, that this was getting out of hand.”
But he added there would need to be some form of contact if there was ever to be a lasting Cyprus settlement: “In many other cases where you have territories that have declared independence but are not recognised by other states, there is a recognition that you have to engage with these territories as part of the peace process.”