This date is significant in two dimensions. First, it's the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus, in the constitution of which the Turkish Cypriots feature as founders siding with Greek Cypriots.
And secondly, it's just months before the military coup in Turkey.
It's Assoc. Prof. Mehmet Hasgüler who shed light on this little piece of paper, which inevitably marks a turning point in the history of this still conflicted Mediterranean island.
It features on the fifth edition of his book, "Enosis in Cyprus and the End of Politics of Division", as a monument to the conflict infected upon the island following the notorious right-wing military coup in Turkey on September 12, 1980.
What does this stamp and the commemoration envelope signify?
Federate Turkish State of Cyprus is celebrating the foundation of the Republic of Cyprus. Federate Turkish State of Cyprus is the first state founded by Turkish Cypriots on the north following the Turkish military intervention in 1975. And it's the premise of today's Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC). It's president was Rauf Denktaş, who notoriously defended the division of the two peoples of Cyprus.
This stamp shows us an interesting change. What's presented to us as "State of Greek Cyprus" today was recognized as "Republic of Cyprus" until the establishment of the KKTC.
The same commemorative envelope has a stamp in honor of the 100th anniversary of British presence on the island. Together, this translates as "our roots go back to the British colonization and later to the Republic of Cyprus. We're not apart from the Republic, we're a federal state".
So, what happens then and this approach changes?
I'll quote an interesting example: My father was born on 1941. His had five different sets of passports and identities, issued by the British colonial administration, then by the Republic of Cyprus, Cyprus Autonomous Administration, Federate Turkish State of Cyprus and lastly by KKTC.
If the Annan Plan had been ratified in 2004, the sixth set was on the way. All those happened just in 50 years.
The politics of separation laid roots in Cyprus following the coup in Turkey in 1980. Cypriots suffer from the same dementia as their Turkish counterparts caused by this coup.
Late General Kenan Evren led the way to the establishment of the KKTC -which nobody recognized except his dictatorial friends Pakistani leader Ziya Ulhak and Romanian Chavushescu- on November 15, 1983. Turkish PM of the day Bulent Ulusu was responding as "we wouldn't want anybody that doesn't want us", to the Europeans who criticized the coup. KKTC was established in order to teach a lesson to them. It acted as a blanket over the social collapse caused by the military coup.
In addition to that, there's an internal motive to the establishment of the KKTC. The elections, which gave way to Rauf Denktas' presidency, were suspicious. If he wouldn't be elected that time, law had forbidden another run. Following the elections he lifted this constitutional constraint. Turkish generals of the coup wanted to hold on to Denktas on the island at that time.
Turkish officials openly intervened in the process of forming a government after the elections. Turkish ambassador to Cyprus, İnal Batu declared, "The political parties that don't support NATO are not welcome as government".
All these incidents show how the issue of Cyprus had been manipulated in Turkey as consecutive governments change.
What's needed to be done now for a solution on the island?
The critical point is the UN Security Council resolution 186 that dates to March 4, 1964. This resolution excluded the Turkish Cypriots from the Republic of Cyprus, of which they are constitutional co-founders. Result was a illegitimate republic.
Whereas Turkish Cypriots held ministerial positions in the government, had 24 undisclosed seats in the parliament before this resolution. These are our rights. Turkish Cypriots are natural citizens of the Republic of Cyprus. We don't want any favors; these are our rights.
Now if Turkey can question this illegitimate condition, the UN resolution that created it, the existence of UN peace keeping forces on the island; the current situation may change and all trumps that the conservative Greek Cypriot leader Papadopulos hold can be nulled.
The accession of the Republic of Cyprus into the EU without the Turkish Cypriots is a mistake. Turkey must emphasize this point, also in order to resolve its own deadlock with the EU.(TK/EÜ)
