Turkey's application to join the European Union, which requires the acquiescence of Greece, is universally viewed as an informal part of any package deal. The latest negotiations may set the stage for future progress, but the administration should not attempt to spirit the two leaders off to some isolated location and create a Dayton-like accord for Cyprus. 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.