Christofias meets with parties

President Christofias has started consulting with all the political parties individually before Friday when he and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat are due to decide on whether to go to negotiations in the autumn. Politis reports that he has decided to have separate meetings with the party leadership rather than convene the National Council. He was originially planning to see only Diko and Edek who are reacting to the prospect of direct talks, but then added Disy after a request from party leader Nicos Anastasiades.

Christofias first met with House President and Diko leader, Marios Garoyian on Tuesday and with the Diko executive committee on Wednesday. Garoyian was cagey about what transpired, but hinted at DIKO’s view that the basis of new negotiations had not yet been adequately clarified. Last week, DIKO announced it did not believe that the current climate called for the start of direct negotiations between the two sides, while expressing doubts that any significant progress had been made by the working groups and technical committees set up to prepare the grounds for fully-fledged negotiations. Rumours about DIKO leaving the government over the issue at this stage are rife but Garoyian said such speculation was premature. He said the party’s place was to act responsibly and strengthen the negotiating position of the President. He said DIKO neither wanted to destroy the process, nor did it fear talks. He added that the party will be briefed overall and then give its final position.

He later met with the executive committee of Disy and is due to meet with Edek today. Disy leader Anastasiades said his party supports the President despite the ideological differences between their two parties. The national cause should be above all else, he said.

Pambos Charalambous writing in Alithia says it is natural that Erdogan's presence in the north, an exercise for internal consumption, have upset the G/C side. Yet it revealed the Turks' priorities as regards the Cyprus problem. They don't just want a solution, they need it. The continuation of the problem is a huge political and economic burden on Turkey. He said as much long ago before we even knew him. "It's not possible for 70m Turks and 10m Greeks to suffer just because half a million Cypriots can't agree", he had said in December 2002 when he first came to power.

Online newsletter Offsite reports that Akel is embarking on an information campaign on what federation entails in order to offset any effort to demonise the current reconciliation effort. They have already started with party members briefing them in detail on both the positive and negative aspects of a federal system.