Government answers back

The Sunday Mail says that the government is hitting back at a barrage of criticism after Friday's meeting between the two leaders, with President Christofias denying he had given in to Turkish demands. In what the paper calls a reversal of alliances, Christofias has come under fire from his coalition partners while having received support from opposition party Disy. His critics accuse him of selling Cyprus' sovereignty down the river by accepting terms used in the Annan plan and making concessions to the Turkish side. The government issued a statement by Presidential Under-Secretary Titos Christofides reassuring that nothing had changed and nothing had been agreed that was not already covered under UN resolutions and existing negotiating practices. Detractors focused on the use of the terms "constituent states", the reference to political equality and the discussing of military confidence building measures, which they said should only be discussed with Turkey.

The biggest criticism, the paper says, came from former President Tassos Papadopoulos who described developments as "bad" and "a step backwards". He said the use of the word "parnership" was between governments and states, adding that "this does not constitute a satisfactory basis to begin negotiations".

Christofias hit back saying: "The notion of a parnership (between the two communities) existed since 1960, even if some people never want to admit this. And this has already caused untold harm to this country". He said he had nothing further to say to his predecessor except to add that he believed Friday's meeting was a step forward.

Disy leader Nicos Anastasiades described the joint statement as one of "constructive ambiguity" int hat even though there were differences and difficulties the leaders had obviously decided to maintain the good climate so that they could move forward and keep up the momentum for discussion. Referring to Papadopoulos' statement, Anastassiades said that poisoning the atmosphere would achieve nothing.

Alithia says Christofias is determined to clash with the rejectionist camp because when he says he will work hard and with honesty he means it. According to information the paper says Christofias has decided that now is the time to wage the final battle with those forces that give the impression that they want to short-circuit developments in the Cyprus problem. He has decided a) to get to the heart of the Cyprus problem and proceed to discuss all open issues, b) to proceed to substantive negotiations without taking into account views that are purely negative and have nothing constructive to offer and no good will, c) not to leave any criticism unanswered and d) to ask Garoyian and Omirou to clarify their stand. The paper says that in effect the direct talks will be postponed to the autumn The paper also says that from recent contacts, Christofias has received a message that Turkey is ready to solve the Cyprus problem and willing to make a serious effort in this direction.

Politis also says that Christofias is eager to take on the rejectionists. Makarios Droushiotis, analysing Friday's meeting, says it constitutes "a correction" to the course towards a solution. He says there are important conclusions to read between the lines of the leaders' joint statement. First the leaders don't set too much store on the working groups; they were just a way out of the 8 July agreement and to help the direct talks rather than prepare for them. His threat last week that he would not go to direct talks unless progress were made was tactical in order to force a statement on the kind of solution that is being sought. Talat agreed to shelve the 'virgin birth' issue having got Christofias to agree to the political equality of the constituent states rather than of citizens, as his predecessor Tassos Papadopoulos interpreted the meaning of political equality. Now that the parameters have been set the two leaders can start direct talks without needing to wait for the working groups. Their joint statement has already set out the framework of a solution. At their next meeting they will ascertain that progress has been made at the working groups and no matter how many deadlocks the media declare, direct talks will start at the latest by September. The basis of these talks will be the work the UN has done to date. The UN SG would never have agreed to start from scratch, and proof that he is convinced of the leaders' sincerity is that he has already begun to see if the former Australian Foreign Minister would be willing to be his envoy to Cyprus. Clearly the rejectionist camp will react to the start of talks. But Christofias has enough power to stand up to them having the support of the majority of the population which includes the full support of Disy, as well as the moderates in Diko and Edek, not to mention the support of the international community, especially the EU, which is desperate for a solution. The media will not swallow all this easily but reporters depend on the information bank and in this case Christofias is the bank manager. Will all this culminate in a solution? Hard to say. Unless there is a huge upset in Turkey, the probability is high. What is certain is that the Cyprus problem is in a new era and that at the end of this process, either with or without a solution, we shall be living in an entirely new environment.

The Mail's weekly satirical column, Coffeeshop, says he enjoyed the resumption of hostilities over the Cyprob sparked by the commissar presidente's mega-concessions to Talat at Friday's meeting. He says it was reassuring to hear the disciples of the Ethnarch on the morning radio shows analysing texts and issuing warnings of impending doom if the Cyrob was settled before it reached its 50th anniversary. Although they all avoided attacking Christofias directly, focusing on his concessions to the Turkish side instead, there was a marked contrast to what used to happen during the reign of the Republic's saviour when the Disy Fuhrer was the target of the bash-patriotic politicos. Now all has changed. The Fuhrer can no longer be used as punchbag of all the heavyweight patriots half of whom are allies of the treacherous commie presidente who tricked them into electing him by pretending he would oppose the return of the A-plan. The return of the A-plan was confirmed by Friday's communiqe which even used the plan's phraseology, which is no bad thing as we can now all look forward to endless patriotic ranting and raving on the radio shows every morning.

Nicos Koutsou was the best of the panicking radio preachers. The Talat-Christofias agreement "goes beyond the Annan plan" he moaned, as it led to a solution based on the logic of confederation. His most astute remark was that the parnership "will have a federal government but it willnot have a federal state". He did not explain what type of state it would have as it would be produced by "virgin birth". And before the mother has had a scan there was no way of knowing what test-tube state wshe was going to give birth to, especially as the identity of the father is unknown. Diko's Andreas Angelides went beyond the virgin birth and expressed concern that this sexless marriage could end in divorce. The proposed partnership created absolute equality "and this leaves the window open for one of the parners to leave the parnership". True, we do not want our new state to grow up in abroken home, but if people did not get married because of the risk of divorce, the human race would soon become extinct. Perhpas we should insist on a prenuptial agreement if the Turks insist on not having sex with the Republic, as we do not want the Turks leaving the marriage with all our money and custody of a recognised state.

The most pelasant surprise was that the worrying developments forced the Ethnarch to speak out publicly, but talk is cheap and now is time for action. I expect Tassos to put on his Super-ethnarch mask and cape, get the tears with supernatural powers ready and fight to save the Republic. He did it once, he can do it again. His country is counting on him.

Tree-hugger Perdikis has replaced Madsakis as our top loony. He distributed an article to the papers last week complaining that whenever there appeared some slim hope of a breakthrough in the Cyprob, G/C and T/C politicians started having dinner together. He wrote: "I d not know why there is the view that at a dinner someone could relax and agree to unacceptable. Could lamb chops and meat balls hide occupation and uprooting? Could we hide in a pitta of souvlaki and sheftalia the hundreds of missing? The settler? What will we do with settlers? Shall we mix them with the cabbage and greens and the tomatoes and will they disappear in the salad? And the occupation army, will become kokoretsi and partition will turn into a preserved sweet?" Friday's meeting agreed that the virgin birth will become ofto kleftiko but this was not included in the communique in case Perdikis demanded royalties.