Welcome to the Middle East, Cyprus!

Listen for a few minutes to the speech of the president of the Middle East Forum, Daniel Pipes as he talks on Cyprus (go to minute 28). I apologise the minor mistakes in the quoted text below, but the audio is of bad quality. In the Q&A session he speaks about "Turkey" being suspended from NATO, or even rejected, and he also thinks it possible that "Turkey" could split into two, but not more pieces. He also finds Antifon's idea of renaming "Turkey" proper.


"I was very pro Turkish and I overlooked the Cyprus problem. Because there were so many other things around too. I didn't like 1974 at all, but it was minor compared to the other things. Now it is not. Now it is symbolic of all the other problems. At the time in 1974 it didn't look like Jihadists. Bulent Ecevit was not a Jihadist. He was a secularist. He was the one who was Prime Minister in 1974 who invaded Cyprus. But in retrospect it was a Jihadi effort, and the destruction of churches, and the throwing out of the Greek speaking Christian Cypriots from the area feels like ethnic cleansing. It all fits into the larger picture. That is why for me and for many others Cyprus is now part of the big game ... Your energy reserves, or your strategic cooperation with Israel or Turkish activities, Turkish settlers from Anatolia in the north all seem part of the larger regional issues. So welcome to the Middle East! I think the gas and oil make Cyprus stronger but make things more dangerous."

Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTCcbtD3ito;t=1680