A Federal Solution in Cyprus Discussed at EMU

A workshop titled "Evaluation of a Possible Federal Solution in Cyprus" organized by Eastern Mediterranean University Faculty of Law was held at EMU Business and Economics Faculty Meeting Hall BEA5 on Thursday, September 12, 2019. The keynote speaker of the workshop which took place under the moderation of EMU Law Faculty Constitutional Law Academic Staff Member Assist. Prof. Dr. Demet Çelik Ulusoy was world-renowned political scientist Prof. Dr. Jan Erk.

Among the participants of the workshop were EMU Faculty of Business and Economics, Department of Political Science and International Relations Chair Prof. Dr. Ahmet Sözen, EMU Faculty of Law academic staff members Assist. Prof. Dr. Arzu Alibaba, Assist. Prof. Dr. Emine Koçano Rhodes, and Assist. Prof. Dr. Seda Orbay, Near East University Faculty of Law academic staff member Asst. Prof. Dr. Aydın Atılan and Beykent University Faculty of Law academic staff member Dr. Mustafa Ercakica.

Youth organizations also joined the workshop because of their interest in the subject. Representatives of the Youth Initiative in Education, Independent Youth Platform and UK Turkish Cypriot Student Federation attended the workshop which focused on the framework of a possible Federal System in Cyprus, successful and unsuccessful federal systems in the world, identity, ethnicity, and authority sharing and the institutional, political and sociological dimensions of federal systems.

Structure of the Federal System was Discussed

The issue of Cyprus dispute and solution is considered one of the longest-running issues of the international law. It is also known that a possible solution in Cyprus has been explained by international foci as a federal system. In addition, apart from the federal system being considered as part of a possible solution in Cyprus, many different ideas on different solution parameters have been put forward. In addition to discussing these ideas in the workshop, the resolutions of the UN Security Council and the federal system as a form of state emphasized by the Negotiation Desk were addressed.

As public debates, which may sometimes lead to information pollution, are not often very informative about the structure of the federal system and the design of an equal bi-communal federal system, views were exchanged on the institutional design, structure, sociological and political dimensions of a possible federal system.

The workshop also hosted information exchange with reference to specific topics on the Cyprus issue, including the explanation of federalism in general, the institutional design of the federal system and the requirements for a sustainable federal system, the catalogues of the federal system's authority sharing and constitutional power sharing, disputes and dispute resolution in federal systems. It was also stated that in order to discuss the aforesaid issues more comprehensively, the organisation of new workshops in the future is essential.