ANKARA
By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal
UK historian and a former adviser to late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Norman Stone said the Spanish government uses the Gibraltar issue as a smokescreen to distract public attention from austerity measures and turbulent internal politics.
“They [Spanish] too put up concrete blocks to stop fishing boats. It looks as if the Spanish position has no reasoning behind it, except in terms of internal politics in Spain. They are very worried about what has been going on in Catalonia”, Mr. Stone told AA at Ankara's Bilkent University, where he currently lectures, referring to the Catalan separatist movement in northeast Spain.
“Part of their nationalist right will be driven a bit mad by what’s happened to Spain, about the possibility that the country may break up […] and the finances are in a mess. They decentralized so much. It must be quite easy for the government to pick up something likeGibraltar if it wants to.”
Stone also says that the people of Gibraltar – a British Overseas Territory – have already voiced their opinion and the latest disruptions will not change their minds:
"The people of Gibraltar do not want to join Spain. Why force them to? I don’t think there is any pro-Spanish element [...] the Spanish administration made such a mess of it [the situation]. They have driven the people ofGibraltar mad by making life uncomfortable [...] If you treat people like that for 40 years, of course they are going to hate you."
The Gibraltarian, British and Spanish governments, state organizations, EU and even UN have been forced to weigh in on the issue after a dispute over artificial reefs off Gibraltar's coast angered Spanish fishermen who claimed the move would affect their fishing.
Madrid responded by tightening border checks that caused long delays for the thousands of tourists and those who live on either side of the border,Gibraltar's Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, later denounced the move in his New Year message.
“We have seen illegal and disproportionate queues at the frontier, which are clearly politically motivated and which even the European Commission has described as unjustified... I particularly regret the cruel pedestrian queues that have recently been sporadically implemented and which indiscriminately affect people of all ages in all weather conditions.”
Echoing Stone's statements, Picardo underlined in his New Year message that Spain would likely abandon the issue once Madrid overcomes its economic shortcomings:
“I do not believe that this hostile approach from Spain’s government is representative of modern Spain and its good people. But we can see on a daily basis on television screens that Spain is in the grip of social, political, and financial turmoil. As a nation we must wish our Spanish neighbors well...the sooner they emerge from this economically induced crisis the sooner we can stop being a scapegoat for all their ills.”
Picardo has signaled his government’s readiness to negotiate any matters that concern Spain, but under the condition that the question of British sovereignty is off the table.
“The Gibraltar Government remains ready to attend talks under the Trilateral Forum for Dialogue - which the United Kingdom Government and the Spanish Opposition also remain strongly committed to. We will also agree to take part in ad-hoc talks as proposed by Foreign Secretary William Hague - subject to the common red lines of the United Kingdom and GibraltarGovernments being preserved. Because dialogue is the only answer; but it cannot be a dialogue exclusively on Spain’s terms.”
Gibraltar with a population of around 30,000, was ceded to Britain by Spain under the treaty of Utrecht in 1713. In referenda held in 1967 and 2002, the Gibraltarian public widely rejected proposals for it to be governed by Madrid. Spain, however, continues to press its claims to the territory.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
