Ideas about recognition, like any other concept, have been and continue to be nuanced to fit the hopes and fears of many Turkish Cypriots. The fear or the pessimism that exists within the Turkish Cypriot community is that a federal state will merely mean the morphing of the Cyprus Republic into a new hegemonic relationship that will include not only the Greek Cypriots as its subject but the Turkish Cypriots too - they are fearful that the new relationship will merely mean subjection rather than a freedom to express their will.

 Maybe this is why the section of the memorandum that states that "the UK will not support any moves towards the partition of the island or the recognition or upgrading of any separate political entity  on the island" has been the focus of much of the early debate on the developments last week after President Christofias and Prime Minister Brown met at Downing Street. Denying of another political entity is tantamount to denying freedom it seems - but is it so?  

Whether or not this pessimism is justified will feature heavily in the reunification talks, and only the constitutional details of the new "United Republic of Cyprus" will reveal whether majority representation will mean majority rule. Federal State need not mean this however.

 What will certainly be asked of Turkish Cypriots (and Greek Cypriots) is that they adopt a new identity - that they embrace Cypriotness - and not one that is mono-ethnic. So we find that recognition, in the current sense of the term, for most Turkish Cypriots, is not a natural fit. In fact it could be said to be in conflict because recognition is tied not only to expressing a part of themselves that is self-evident and easy to access but is asking something for the embracing of the other. The peace process is creating such a demand. It is a demand for a type of empathy that may of not been carefully considered prior or may be out of the reach of some. An empathy or political identity that chases a future ideal rather than self-preservation. This is why current Turkish Cypriot Will (or desire for recognition) seem at odds with certain parts of the memorandum and possibly why the embodiment of this Will in the form of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC) has reacted so angrily to the memorandum by claiming that the UK and the Cyprus Republic have acted 'recklessly'.

 There is one thing that can be said about this reaction. That it is in part in line with the feeling of the ordinary Turkish Cypriot and that it does reflect a quite honorable paternalistic defence of this feeling. Also the TRNC will be acutely aware that whether it has in mind self-preservation or future bargaining positions, it must keep a grip of its status as protector of Turkish Cypriot interests.

 The other thing that can be said of it is that it could be an overreaction that misses the meaning of what has actually been agreed in the memorandum. For the idea of a bi-zonal, bi-communal, single entity is not a new idea. In fact it is what the Turkish Cypriots that voted for the Annan Plan were asking for. Neither is the point in the memorandum where the Greek Cypriot administration commits to supporting the economic integration of the Turkish Cypriots anything to be frowned upon. What is a new idea is that in the short term the Cypriot Republic may be acting in the broader interest of the Turkish Cypriots. But this is an inevitable enterprise if unification is to become a reality. A sharing of 'good will' is going to be requisite if recognition, in the form being proposed, is to ferment.

 Yet another interpretation, or possible implications, of the reaction of the TRNC is that the peace process, which is now in full swing, could frown upon any resistance to 'good will' and this will ultimately be detrimental to the freedom of the individual Turkish Cypriot who will find himself in international political limbo indefinitely.

 The main hurdles in the process will present themselves when the details of a federal state are put to the fore. It will be these details which will allow evaluation as to whether Turkish Cypriots will have room to express their freedom and identity on a international and local level. But in the meanwhile the Cypriot people will have the opportunity to decide for certain whether the potential of 'Cypriotness' is within them and whether this is how they would like the political world to recognise them