'Virgin birth' is rubbish

President Christofias met today with the heads of the 13 working groups and technical committees. The meeting was aimed at assessing the work done so far and evaluating the situation, in view of Christofias’ meeting on Friday with the Turkish Cypriot leader Mr Talat. This afternoon the Presidential Commissioner Mr Iacovou met with Mr Nami, the T/C leader’s adviser.

According to the Cyprus Mail, the Turkish Cypriot side said is trying to play down the 'virgin birth' issue saying yesterday that a settlement to the Cyprus problem did not necessarily mean the creation of a new state, and invited Demetris Christofias to come up with “an alternative”. The Turkish Cypriot spokesman Hasan Ercakica told the Cyprus Mail that the proposal for “a virgin birth (creation of a new state) was put forward by a third party during negotiations on the Annan plan as a method for bringing the two existing states together. If Christofias has a better method, then we are ready to listen to him,” he added.

He sought to play down the need for a delay by denying that the Turkish Cypriot side had insisted on a two-state solution, or a the creation of a brand new umbrella state. “When we or Turkish officials talk of two states and two peoples, we are simply talking about the reality as it is now,” he said. “What we do insist on is political equality, which means that we have active participation and equal say in all major state decisions such as foreign policy and taxation.”

The paper says that there are reports that the Greek Cypriot side may ask for a delay in the start of talks, citing of a lack of progress in pre-negotiation discussions. Others believe that the possibility of a delay may stem from Christofias’ fears that Turkish Cypriot demands for the creation of a new state, and insistence onTurkey retaining the right to intervene militarily if it feels the Turkish Cypriot minority is threatened could lead upcoming talks to failure.

Ercakica could not, however, deny that the preservation of the Turkish military guarantee was in fact a red line for the Turkish Cypriot side, but said, “If Christofias doesn’t believe that security is a real concern of the Turkish Cypriot people, I invite him here to carry out a survey and find out for himself”. He added that if Turkish Cypriots ever felt they no longer needed Turkey’s protection, they would themselves ask the military to leave. “The idea that the Turkish army is here against the wishes of the Turkish Cypriot people is ridiculous,” he said.

Ercakica also addressed concerns that ongoing disputes between the military and Turkey’s civilian government could jeopardise negotiations for a settlement by saying, “We are working with all interested parties in Turkey to make sure that the situation there affects us as little as possible. Our aim is to gain us much support as we can for a settlement”.

Looking ahead to Friday’s meeting between Christofias and Talat, Ercakica said he saw no reason why fully-fledged negotiations should not start as planned on June 21. “When we agreed on March 21 to start negotiations in three months, there was no suggestion that the start was conditional upon progress among the working groups,” he said, adding: “As far as we were concerned, the working groups were not set up to negotiate but to brainstorm, exchange ideas and gather a body of work to place before the leaders to help them in their job. Mr Christofias is now talking about a lack of progress, but the fact that we have identified a number of problems is in itself progress. Establishing fixed positions before we start is not practical. But establishing what the problems may be, and then looking for pragmatic ways around them is.”

Moreover, former President George Vasiliou, as a guest on CyBC's lunchtime news programme yesterday in his capacity as leader of one of the working groups (on the EU) on the Cyprus problem, said he believed the whole discussion on the 'virgin birth' issue was unnecessary. He dismissed it entirely explain that such a question does not even arise because a new state is not being born from nothing. "We have already been members of the European Union for four years now. For a new agreement to be made by a new state, that would mean that what we have today must cease functioning and a new application would need to be made to join the EU". He said this was something the T/C and Turkey haven't even thought about.

He also approved President Christofias move to call for a meeting with Talat saying that "the working groups are necessary, but nothing can be agreed without the approval of the leaders".He said the meeting was all the more called for in order to discuss the delays that have takeen place. "As we are now, we're going nowhere", he said "and nobody wants that".

As regards the political situation in Turkey, Mr Vasiliou agreed that it is a cause for uncertainty and doesn't help the negotiations but added that if the two communities show their determination to proceed then this uncertainty could be overcome. "I don't believe Turkey is in a position to bear the brunt of the responsibility for lack of progress in Cyprus", he said.