Cyprus Conflict

So, as you all know, Cyprus is divided into a Greek Cypriot state and a Turkish Cypriot state. The Greek Cyprus is internationally recognized, but the Turkish Cyprus, established following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, is only recognized by Turkey.

A couple years a go they held a referendum to resolve the dispute. The Turkish side voted in favor of a two state federation, one for the Turkish inhabited areas, and another for the Greek inhabited areas. The Greek side refused, saying they would only acknowledge a total dissolution of the North, while the Turkish citizens voted in favor of uniting with the west in a two state solution.

Anyways, following the referendum, many world leaders and politicians came out in favor of recognizing Northern Cyprus. According to many, the Turkish demands were reasonable, while the Greek demands of a total dissolution were unreasonable, therefore it was hard to support Greek Cyprus.

Northern Cyprus functions more like a sovereign state, despite the misconceptions that the government is a puppet of Turkey. International monitors of sorts are my evidence for this.
This is an international proxy conflict, but is unique in the fact that it is between Greece and Turkey, two nations of NATO.

What to do? What to do? Greece happens to be the black sheep of NATO, but we sort of need them for tactical and strategic purposes, but if it came down to it, I feel Turkey would make the better and more stable ally.

Blackflag: What if the UN were to occupy Cyprus and establish an independent Cypriot nation?

Dassault Papillon: Cyprus already is an independent nation.

Blackflag: By the look of things, it's divided between Greece and Turkey.

Dassault Papillon: Kind of, but not in the way you are thinking. The state of Cyprus is an independent and internationally recognized country. It formed a military partnership with Greece following the Turkish invasion, but they have their own military more or less. The state of North Cyprus is only recognized by Turkey, who speaks for them on the international stage and keeps a garrison there, but besides that, they have their own president and parliament.

So to better summarize the conflict...

There is an internationally recognized Greek Cyprus that lays claim to the whole island, while in the north, there is a Turkish Cypriot state with limited recognition that claims the northern half of the island.

And it is technically illegal for the UN to start wars in most circumstances, which is something most ppl forget.

Blackflag: ... or you could just not intervene and let it play out. That's always an option.

admin: Having it play out could potentially mean war. You can't just distance yourself from these conflicts. The international community has the power to instill peace if it could just pick a side,

Blackflag: I tend to disagree. I feel like war is unprofitable for all sides involved.

This will MOST likely play out like in Spain, how Barcelona etc wants independence. Not gonna happen, a bunch of people will whine about it. No war though.

admin: I agree that war is unprofitable. That is why the international community needs to resolve the dispute before a war does happen.

BTW, you can't compare this to Catalonia, because Catalonia isn't a defacto government with a military and foreign backing from a military power.

This is more comparable to Biafria, where a de-facto state established itself along ethnic lines, and had support from other African nations. That did end in war, and the international community happened to be pretty silent when it went down.

It would also be somewhat like the Crimean Crisis had Russia not later annexed the newly independent Crimean breakaway state.

Blackflag: Well then the obvious solution would be for foreign powers to quit intervening

admin: The foreign powers aren't intervening, that's the problem I brought up in this thread.

admin: No one in Europe wants to choose sides between Greece and Turkey, even if that means not standing up for what many to believe the right choice.

Blackflag: You JUST said one of the issues was and foreign backing from a military power.

So how about we put a stop to that?

admin: No one in Europe wants to choose sides between Greece and Turkey, even if that means not standing up for what many to believe the right choice.

Blackflag: You don't need to. Both sides stand down their militaries, let Cyprus work it out.

: You JUST said one of the issues was
and foreign backing from a military power.


So how about we put a stop to that?
Except the Turkish military is the only thing preventing a war at this point.

You don't need to. Both sides stand down their militaries, let Cyprus work it out.
Not that simple. One side wanted to compromise and the other didn't. Diplomatic solutions can't be reached when one side is making unreasonable demands.

Imagine if either North or South Korea stopped receiving military support. There is not a chance in hell you could stop one or the other from invading.

So much nirvana from you, lol