Posted on 09/08/2007 2:10:03 AM PDT by kronos77
THE ISSUE of Kosovo does not make many headlines in Cyprus, but there is no doubt that, behind the scenes, the government is following developments very closely, concerned at the way events might unfold.
Beyond any sentimental solidarity with the Serbs, Kosovo matters to Cyprus. There are too many parallels and it is too close to home to dismiss any final outcome to the dispute as irrelevant to our own.
Put bluntly, Kosovo is another TRNC, a part of Serbia over which the recognised central government has no control, lost in the aftermath of a war, overwhelmingly populated by a minority ethnic group that claimed persecution at the hands of the majority. Settlement talks have failed to produce agreement (in this case, the international community is seeking an agreed divorce), and now leaders of Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority are threatening to declare independence if a final push fails by December 10.
What should seriously worry Cyprus is that, while the TRNC has so far remained unrecognised by everyone bar Turkey, there is a good chance that Albania will not be the only country to recognise an independent Kosovo. Indeed, were it not for Russia’s veto there is a good chance that independence would have been enshrined by the United Nations Security Council itself, irrespective of Serbia’s opposition, and irrespective of her recognised sovereignty over the province.
(Excerpt) Read more at cyprus-mail.com ...
Ping!
Cyprus and the USA (Arizona and Mew Mexico, etc) and Spain and the UK and and etc. should be worrying.
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