It is critical that any agreement be sustainable over the long term unlike the Dayton treaty for Bosnia. Today, Bosnia is no closer to real peace than when the agreement was originally signed in 1995. Cyprus cannot afford a similarly unsustainable settlement imposed from outside. Ethnic conflicts are devilishly complicated to resolve. Trust is devilishly difficult to re-establish.
Compromises are devilishly hard to make.
The abandoned buildings, barbed-wire fences, and more than 100 minefields in or near the Buffer Zone stand as silent witnesses condemning the hatreds that have divided an island. A solution to what both sides call the Cyprus problem is long overdue. But Cypriots need a solution that will survive, enabling them to live together in harmony. Massive anti-American demonstrations in Greece have stunned the Clinton White House, compelling the president to reschedule and shorten his visit to that country. The conventional wisdom is that the outpouring of rage against the United States is either typical fare from radical leftists, still furious about Washington's support of the military junta that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974, or residual anger at NATO's war against Serbia, which was overwhelmingly unpopular among Greeks.