Slowly but surely

Developments in the Cyprus problem are going along smoothly, Christofias said today after a meeting of the National Council, an advisory body on the Cyprus problem. He said he did not encounter any reactions from any of the Council members as regards the way he had handled the issue.

The National Council was attended by Nicos Katsourides and Andros Kyprianou from Akel, Nicos Anastasiades and Averof Neofytou from Disy, Marios Karoyian and Giorgos Kolocasides from Diko, Yiannakis Omirou and Vasos Lyssarides from Edek, Dimitris Syllouris and Nicos Koutsou from Evroko, and Giorgos Perdikis and Dinos Paspalides from the Greens. Also present were former Presidents Tassos Papadopoulos, Glavcos Clerides and George Vasiliou, the Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou, Presidential Commissioner George Iacovou, Government Spokesman Marcos Kyprianou, and Minister without portfolio Titos Christofides.

In statements afterwards Disy leader Nicos Anastasiades said he hoped the National Council would be upgraded. Diko president Marios Karoyan said the meeting was “creative”. Edek president expressed concern as to progress in the Cyprus problem and over the opening of Ledra Street but said Christofias had the support of all parties. Glavcos Clerides said that at last there was a better climate but that it was too early to say if they were on the right road. This would become clearer when Christofias and Talat meet again.

Meanwhile George Iacovou and Ozdil Nami met yesterday morning for two and a half hours and again for several more hours in the afternoon continuing their work on setting up the committees and working groups on the Cyprus problem. Speaking after the meeting, Iacovou said everything was set for five of the groups, and the remainder of the work would be done before the end of this week. “We have made good progress but we are not finished. We hope to do so by Thursday,” Iacovou said. He said the delay was because he and Nami had not had the opportunity for enough meetings in recent.

Politis reveals that the two sides were unable to agree on the wording of a joint communique to form a guideline for the committees to start their discussions because the T/C side wanted to include reference to the Anan plan which was unacceptable to the G/Cs. The paper also says that constitutional expert Toumazos Tsielepis will have a supervisory role to play in the discussions, will work closely with Iacovou and will also sit in on the meetings of the National Council. Later he will also be on Christofias’ negotiating team. As a member of Akel, the paper says, he will be the only partisan participant int the work of the committees as most of the other participants will be civil servants.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe, who is on a tour of the region, and European capitals, to gauge the temperature for a possible resumption of Cyprus talks before the summer, was in Ankara yesterday where he held talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan on the Cyprus issue. There were no statements after the meeting. He returns to New York on Friday to report back to the UN Security Council and to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.