Greek Cypriots’ leader Tassos Papadopoulos is a powerful man. When in April he said to his people: "Say ‘no’ to Kofi Annan’s unification plan for Cyprus!", his people voted against the plan. Since then the Greek Cypriot Republic is not everyone’s darling anymore. Diplomats in Brussels did not understand that Greek Cypriots, who for many years, even decades, pretended to work for peace within an united Cyprus, brought to fall a historical chance for unification. But their vote simply was a proof that Greek Cypriots’ policies concerning Cyprus were to say ‘yes’ to everything the Turks had to say ‘no’ to. Former Greek Cypriot President Clerides had admitted that his strategy was the same.

After the referendum of 24 April, Turkish Cypriots were promised both by the EU and by their own government that the Turkish vote in favor of the Annan plan would lead to a new era for North Cyprus and improve international trade and lead to a lift of embargos. But by summer, many Turkish Cypriots had to acknowledge that there was no change in sight. The Greek Cypriot government was still treated as "government of Cyprus". And in September at the latest, one had to recognize that Greek Cypriots had not lost any influence on European politics because of their negative stance concerning the Annan plan. This might be due to their EU membership, which started in May and has turned the Cyprus problem to a European problem.

When listening to Papadopolous and his government, one could imagine how this influence looks like. Greek Cypriot politicians try to threaten the EU. First they have forced the cancellation of a EU-OIC meeting in Istanbul, because the TRNC there should be treated as "Turkish Cypriot State". And now they demand recognition from Turkey. But what would that mean? It would mean that Ankara had to accept the Greek Cypriot state as the Republic of Cyprus with all it self-declared and internationally respected unjust rights. But ever since the 1960s, Turkey tried to convince the world that the international stance concerning Cyprus was wrong. The price for supporting the Turkish Cypriots was high – financial and political. Still the world believes that the government of Cyprus is the Greek Cypriots’ government. There will be no chance for a change anymore if Turkey now recognizes the Republic of Cyprus as state.

But in sake of Turkey’s own profit, one has to ask: Should Turkey sacrifices the Turkish Cypriots’ state for EU membership? The best would be if such a question had not to arise and the European Union members could convince Greek Cypriot leaders to stop threatening Turkey and her supporters with a veto in December. Therefore it is necessary for the Turkish Cypriots to support Turkey wherever possible. And promoting the Turkish Cypriots’ just cause internationally could be the best support.

At present the EU seems to be a hostage of Mr. Papadopoulos and only slowly diplomats and journalists recognize that accepting the Greek Cypriot state as a full member before a solution was a grave mistake. Finally, if there are no changes within the EU policies towards Cyprus, the Turkish Cypriots in Northern Cyprus will be again the losers of the recently started new era in Cyprus.