Now that George Bush has offered to help solve the long-standing Cyprus Question, it is high time to review what this problem is all about. In the first place, even though there are now two Cyprus Republics, there is no such thing as a Cypriot nation or language or culture. Whether there are one or two Cyprus Republics, they are still only artificial creations.

In the first place, Cyprus is one of the numerous, mainly Greek-populated, islands that dot the eastern Mediterranean. However, since the island of Cyprus is only 44 miles from Turkey, the island is 80 percent Greek (in the southern and central part of the island) but 18 percent Turk (in the north). The island of Cyprus had long been occupied by British imperialism. When Britain decided to divest itself of the island in 1960, it created as a replacement an independent Republic of Cyprus. Now, the point is that neither the Greeks nor the Turks thought of or think of themselves as "Cypriot" in nationality or culture, or in anything except mere geography. The Greek Cypriots had only one thought on their minds: the age-old desire for enosis (union) with the Greek motherland. Unfortunately, the Brits (backed by the U.S.) had other objectives, such as an elusive balance of power, in mind. The British installed as head of the Cypriot Republic Archbishop Makarios, formerly a beloved spokesman for enosis, but now widely regarded as a sellout of the cause. General George Grivas took to the hills to engage in pro-enosis guerrilla warfare. Finally, in 1974, the pro-Greek guerrillas (backed by the Greek government) were able to throw out Makarios and to seize power. But immediately, the Turkish government, fearing for its Turkish brethren at the hands of a militant Greek government, invaded Cyprus, and occupied the northern 40 percent of the island.

Since 1974, the forces on Cyprus have existed in uneasy stasis. The Cypriot Republic backed off from enosis, while the Turks established a Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1983. But the Northern Cyprus Republic is only recognized by Turkey, and it subsists by the backing of 29,000 Turkish troops remaining in northern Cyprus.

Undoubtedly, Bush's instincts would be to impose a unitary Cyprus Republic, with guarantees for the Turkish minority, but that was precisely the failed plan imposed by the outgoing British in 1960. Greeks and Turks have hated each other with a purple passion for centuries, and it is absurd to believe that the Turks will ever again fall for being a minority within a unitary Greek state. Actually, ratifying the status quo would not be a bad solution, while also allowing the Greek Cypriots their cherished dream of enosis with Greece. Why not have a separate Northern Cyprus Republic for the Turks? The Turkish zone now is almost totally Turk, and likewise for the Greek zone. The big problem, however, is that when the Turks invaded Cyprus in 1974 they were, as usually happens in these matters, interested less in ethnic justice than in helping out their own ethnic comrades. As a result, they grabbed far too much territory, ensuring that the excess land would be Greek-free by forcibly ejecting 200,000 Greeks from their northern zone. Justice would require the Turks allowing the Greek expellees back into their homes, compensating them for their losses and even reducing the extent of Northern Republic territory and transferring the excess land into the Greek zone. The chances of the Turks agreeing to any such plan – they who are deeply convinced that the only good Greek is a dead Greek – are of course minimal.

The chances, indeed, are not good that George Bush will somehow blunder into a solution to the Cyprus problem. Already the New York Times reports that "Mr. Bush seemed taken aback when he was asked by a Greek reporter why he did not 'liberate' Cyprus from the Turkish troops, as he 'liberated' Kuwait." But while the Cyprus Question might not get closer to a solution, we can be assured that before this episode is over a lot of U.S. taxpayer money is going to get funneled into all countries involved.