After much procrastination the Green Monday holiday, enjoyed by those of us living in the south of the island, provided an opportunity to finally get round to launch this blog. Within a matter of months, whatever the outcome of negotiations and referenda in relation to the Annan Plan - Cyprus will never be the same again. Many critical moments will accompany this process. A negotiating team from each community will attempt to shape the Annan Plan, failure to conclude this stage will trigger the involvement of the respective ' motherland's' - Greece and Turkey. If these parties fail to reach agreement then the United Nations will ' fill in the blanks'. The Annan Plan will then be put to simultaneous referenda north and south. If both communities give their consent to the Plan then a new Republic of Cyprus will be brought into being which will also be made up of two ' constituent states'.
Failure to secure consent through this process would stop this process of transition in its tracks but it would also change the rules of the game through which the Cyprus Problem, and its resolution, has previously been played out.
Further, whatever the outcome, the current Republic of Cyprus which extends its control over the southern part of the island, would enter the European Union. Yet it has been expressed time and time again by key players within the European Union that it would prefer to see a united Cyprus join en bloc.
Changing Trains seeks to provide a forum through which this complex moment of transition can be recorded and commented on. Like many other blogs elsewhere the content developed here will be largely driven by the print and broadcasting media. It remains our hope to be able to record, and comment on, other aspects of this transition which tend to remain underrepresented in traditional media outlets. The role of rumour, symbolic representations, the emotive and emotional etc are as much part of this process as hard political debate and institution building.
Finally, those who have initiated this blog wish to encourage anyone who is sufficiently interested to read the posts on this site to become an active participant by submitting their comments. This is an important moment for Cypriots and others living on this island, it's important for Turkey and Greece. It has real significance for the European Union and others within the region. It is a moment which might mark the transformation of one of the world's longest running ethno-national disputes and a model through which others might learn to resolve deep-seated division peacefully. It is time to engage in dialogue.
