A LEADER of Germany's opposition Greens party says Europe should make the Cyprus' bailout conditional on reviving talks about reunification.
"In the debate about financial help for Cyprus the question of reunification of the island does not figure, regrettably," Greens joint chairperson Cem Oezdemir, who is of Turkish origin, told Reuters in an interview released yesterday.
"I believe this issue should be on the table as well as the need to reduce the banking sector, fight money laundering and end wage dumping," he said. It appeared to be the first attempt by a European politician to link a bailout to the dispute.
The government has requested up to €17 billion - roughly equal to the size of its economy - in emergency loans from eurozone partners and the International Monetary Fund.
German officials are pushing for depositors in Cypriot banks, including many Russian and British business people, to be made to contribute to the rescue cost in a so-called "bail-in".
The Berlin government responded sceptically to Oezdemir's call. One official, who asked not to be named, said it "would introduce a political element into the talks which would be difficult to measure".
Reunification eluded negotiators when Cyprus joined the EU in 2004. Turkish Cypriots voted in favour of a UN settlement plan but Greek Cypriots rejected it in a referendum. Oezdemir noted that the new president had supported Kofi Annan's proposal for a loose federation between north and south at the time.
"The new Cypriot president, [Nicos] Anastasiades, is someone we can really deal with," said Oezdemir.
German-born Oezdemir is one of some three million people of Turkish extraction living in Germany. His roots may make him more sensitive to the issues at stake in Cyprus.
Many Germans both in the opposition and in Merkel's own coalition are uneasy about sending taxpayers' funds to help Cyprus, which critics accuse of serving as a haven for money launderers and tax evaders. Cyprus rejects the criticism.