Image featured above (from left to right): Neşe Yaşın, Ms Eleni Avramidi, Professor Frithjof Kuepper, Ms Katie Clerides, Dr Meltem Onurkan Samani, and Frederick Holloway.

Cyprus conference encourages Bicommunal Co-operation

The Next Century Foundation in Cyprus had the pleasure of co-organising a bicommunal conference in Cyprus on water and energy sustainability with the Cyprus Peace and Dialogue Center, the Glafkos Clerides Institute, and the University of Aberdeen.

The Representation of the European Commission in Cyprus, the European Parliament Liaison Office in Cyprus, and the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) also supported the event.

Held in the poignantly dilapidated Ledra Palace Hotel in the UN-administered buffer zone on 26-27 October, the conference brought together Cypriot scientists and peace activists from both sides of this frozen conflict, along with international experts. Participants were united in their focus on finding ways to increase bicommunal co-operation on Cyprus’s water, waste management, and energy infrastructure.

This is by no means an entirely novel idea – the bicommunal wastewater treatment plant at Mia Milia/Haspolat, which was initiated by the efforts of Lellos Demetriades and Mustafa Akıncı in 1978 and which serves both communities of Nicosia, provides an important, and valuable, precedent.

However, subsequent bicommunal initiatives have all too often foundered on the rocks of Cyprus’s complex political dynamics, a casualty of a prevalent reluctance to prejudice negotiating positions before a perpetually postponed future political settlement.

One of the most powerful messages echoed by all speakers was the way in which the environment transcends political boundaries, necessitating joined-up thinking and co-ordinated action to cope with the challenges of the global climate crisis. On an island like Cyprus, the most water-stressed country in Europe, this is a particularly stark reality. Co-operation on environmental issues is therefore a matter of real mutual interest and increasing urgency.

Opening speeches were delivered on the first day by Colin Stewart, Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) in Cyprus and Head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), by Myrto Zambarta, Head of the Representation of the European Commission in Cyprus, and by prominent politicians Ioannis Kasoulides and Özdil Nami.

The local leaders of the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities of Nicosia, Constantinos Yiorkadjis and Mehmet Harmancı, opened proceedings on the second day of the event.

The idea of reciprocal interdependence on an infrastructural level was an important theme of the conference. This can serve as a tool for building trust, improving bicommunal relations at the political level and creating the kind of environment where a political solution is possible, whatever form that solution may take. Speakers made clear, however, that the current political impasse and the issue of non-recognition should not be a barrier to mutually beneficial co-operative projects, and that the latter need not, and must not, be made conditional upon the vexed task of reaching a full-scale political settlement.

The conference also provided an opportunity for speakers to talk about their inspiring work and research, sharing insight and highlighting opportunities for – as well as challenges to – second-track co-operation amongst academics and NGOs.

Several exciting ideas for practical ways to increase co-operation on water and energy resources were presented, including proposals for a solar power plant in the buffer zone, shared aquifer management, and an expanded, island-wide focus on the possibilities of desalination technologies.

To address the problem of sustaining momentum and building practical support for proposed initiatives, Dr Meltem Onurkan Samani and Katie Clerides announced their intention of forming a bicommunal group of experts on water and energy sustainability and waste management.

This group will bring together Cypriot and international specialists, under the auspices of the local leaders of the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities of Nicosia, to support and supplement the work of existing bicommunal technical committees. It will be moderated by the conference’s lead organiser, Professor Frithjof Kuepper, Chair in Marine Biodiversity at the University of Aberdeen.

This collaborative forum promises to sustain, and build on, the productive discussions initiated at the conference, and will hopefully be a lasting contribution to bicommunal co-operation.

I am really grateful to Frithjof Kuepper, Katie Clerides, Meltem Onurkan Samani, and Eleni Avramidi for making this event possible. Their kindness, positivity, and insightfulness are a constant reminder of the infinite value of individual intercommunity friendships and of why co-operation really matters.