Things are going well

The UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus Alexander Downer believes that Turkey wants a solution and that things are going well in the talks on Cyprus, better than what most people on the island think. In an interview with Politis he says he is cautiously optimistic that the process will bear fruit. He says he feels that both leaders in Cyprus envisage the bizonal bicommunal federation in the same way and that the issue will revolve around them finding the golden mean.

He says that while Turkey may have clear view of what the solution should be, nevertheless they are letting Mr Talat negotiate. They want the problem solved because the fact that Turkey maintains a large number of troops on the island causes tension and difficulties for them. "They have a problem in their back yard that they would like to see solved", he adds. They have committed themselves to the process and they support the process, he says.

Regarding the guarantees, he says these will have to be examined by all concerned as the issue does not just concern the two leaders. The Greek government, he says, has made clear that it does not believe they should continue, the Turkish government has stated publicly that it wants them to continue, while the British government hasn't said anything and we don't know what their stand will be.

"My job is not to be optimistic", he says "but I wouldn't have undertaken this position if I believed that there was no possibility of success". He added that while Cypriots understandably are not very optimistic as a result of the past history of the Cyprus problem, nevertheless sitting in on the negotiations as their host, he sees what is happening. "To be honest, I believe they are going quite well and I am cautiously optimistic. If I were not, I would say so. But I am cautiously optimistic". He emphasises that it is of paramount importance for a solution that the momentum is kept up. "Time will tell", he concludes.

Makarios Droushiotis in an article in Politis on the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the TRNC, says it has been a failure both politically and economically. Politically because it came up against the reaction of the permanent members of the Security Council, especially the US whose firm stand has been for a single state in Cyprus, economically becuse the state has never been viable but was always a Turkish protectorate. Its total dependence on Turkey transferred all of Turkey's problems to the T/C community and prevented it from developing as a separate entity. Half the population gets a salary or financial support by a state which has little revenue of its own and hardly produces anything. Even the brief building boom after 2004 failed to give the economy a boost due to the lack of healthy economic infrastructure to enable proper development.

Admittedly 2004 was a watershed in the history of the island because for the first time in their history the two communities had a common objective in joining the EU. The T/Cs recognised that their future lay with the EU and not as a Turkish outpost. We admired their uprising and applauded their youth, yet know full well that, had their separate state succeeded, had it brought them prosperity, freedom and contact with the outside world, they would not have wanted unification. On the other hand if the 1974 events hadn't happened, the G/C would not be seeking federation, let alone accepting political equality, or a rotating presidency.

Today after half a century of being adversaries we should leave yesterday behind and invest in tomorrow, settling on a compromise that will be better than the status quo. If this will be in the form of a federation, the G/Cs must come to terms with the fact that the TRNC will be a constituent part of that state. Likewise the T/Cs must acknowledge that the fact that we are in a position to reunite the country under the umbrella of the EU is an achievement of the Republic of Cyprus, an EU member with a healthy economy, without dependencies from Greece or anywhere else. In order to reunite the country we will inherit all the burdens and chaos of the TRNC and enable the T/C to become EU members overnight. If they truly have abandoned their aim for recognition they must reduce their demands on the federation and stick to making sure they acquire political equality and that they have effective participation in the state. It is logical that they should want security safeguards and for their concerns that they won't be absorbed by the G/Cs to be alleviated, but they are not justified in threatening partition and wanting numerical equality and for everything to be split half and half, without taking G/C fears into account. One of the main reasons why the Zurich agreement collapsed was the feeling of injustice felt by G/Cs that T/Cs had been given too many prerogatives in the 1960 constitution. If a solution is to be reached, it must be made to last and not to collapse for the same reasons.

Loucas Charalambous, writing in the Sunday Mail and Politis, says politicians and journalists keep talking about the need to inform people about a how a federal system of government works because people are in the dark. It is astonishing that 30 years after the two sides signed agreements accepting a federation as the new system of government, we still have not bothered to learn how it works. He blames politicians and says this is either because they do not know themselves or they do not want to explain things to the people. The best example of this misinformation campaign was provided by the former president Tassos Papadopoulos in an interview published by the Khaleej Times on September 4, 2004 who had no compunction about using a big lie to create hostile sentiments against a federal settlement. Ironically it is the very same journalists who so zealously misinformed the public about the provisions of the Annan plan back in 2004 that are today demanding that people be informed about how federation would work. So where should people be getting their information from if politicians and journalists cannot be trusted? For citizens to be correctly informed, we need well-informed and honest journalists. But it is a bit rich for journalists who, either through ignorance or consciously, became vehicles for the promotion of the most ruthless misinformation campaign ever carried out in Cyprus, to now demand information about the federal settlement. Why did they not make this demand back in 2004?

Coffeeshop says Christofias' trip to Russia was a personal triumph of epic proportions, but a fiasco for the country. Our presidente went through the trip in what could only be described as drunken daze caused not by the consumption of vodka, but by the red carpet treatment he received at the Kremlin which went straight to his head. Here was the poor village boy from Dikomo, being treated like royalty by the Russian government – inspecting guards of honour, spending time with the Russian president, staying at palatial premises in the Kremlin and the Moscow roads being closed especially for his cavalcade to pass. Not even in his wildest dreams, as an impoverished student in Moscow, would he have thought that one day he would be waltzing around the Kremlin, with uniformed minders and having discussions with the Russian president.

The treatment intoxicated him, which was why he exhibited the main symptoms of drunkenness – verbal incontinence and lack of touch with your surroundings. How else could you explain his insistence on heaping praise on Soviet communism, while sitting under a portrait of Tsar Nicholas II? He was too intoxicated to realize that this might offend his hosts who considered the Soviet era as a black mark on Russia’s history, hence the portrait of the last Tsar in a state building.

His verbal incontinence is guaranteed to have pissed off many of our EU partners as well, especially the attack on NATO, which was totally unnecessary. It was bad enough that he took on the role of salesman of the Russian government’s proposal for the re-drafting of Europe’s security system, which is far from popular in the EU. But did he have to disparage NATO, which most former Eastern Bloc countries joined in order to have some protection from Russia? The intoxication boosted his delusions of grandeur, mouthing off against NATO and defiantly supporting a security system that none of his EU partners are remotely interested in. And when challenged about going against his partners, he joked that he was proud to be the ‘red sheep’ of the Union.

This comes as additional confirmation of what our establishment had written a few weeks ago – that our deluded presidente is grossly over-estimating his influence on the international stage, and getting ideas way above his station. Not only did he go to Moscow looking to buy €200 million worth of tanks and missiles, he also agreed to be the EU agent of its European security proposal and to lead the effort to abolish the visa requirement for Russians traveling to the EU. And all this in exchange for what? A meaningless joint declaration about the Cyprob, the only positive point of which was that it angered Talat, and a vague promise that Russia would support our positions at the UN Security Council, as long as it does not cause a fall-out with one of its leading trading partners – Turkey.

Incidentally, while the red sheep was in Moscow bleating about our principled allies, the Russian defence minister was in Ankara negotiating the sale to the Turks of five weapon systems worth a billion bucks. The Turks did not ask for support of their positions in the Security Council as a deal sweetener, because they knew Russia’s stands at the UN are guided exclusively by principles and she would never back a country which invades an independent state.

Meanwhile uber-patriotic hard-liner Ethnarch Junior, Nicholas got a lot of air-time this week after complaining that people who express disagreement over the comrade’s handling of the Cyprob, were subjected to “intellectual terror”. When his dad was Ethnarch there was much greater tolerance to people who expressed disagreements with his Cyprob handling. They may have been routinely labeled Turkish agents, but their views were respected.

Last chance for a comprehensive settlement

According to the Cyprus Mail, the biggest obstacle of all to a Cyprus solution is now inertia, and if the current process breaks down it will likely be the last attempt for many years, the International Crisis Group (IGC) said yesterday.

In an article, Hugh Pope, the Turkey/Cyprus project director for the IGC, said that as far as the inertia was concerned, the EU had not yet woken up to the opportunity and risks it faced in Cyprus.Pope said that on the island, cynicism remained widespread. Polls show that fully 40 per cent of the population had become so used to the status quo that they simply did not believe that a settlement would ever happen. “The leaderships, supported by powerful voices from Turkey, Greece and beyond, must begin to tell the story of what a post-settlement Cyprus could look like,” said Pope. “If this year's process breaks down… it will likely be the last attempt at a comprehensive settlement for many years,” he added. Pope said in such an event, the world might “one day” consider a two-state solution on the island. “All sides should count the costs of waiting indefinitely. The old comfort of an unthreatening status quo is no longer available,” said Pope.

He said now that Greek Cypriots were full members of the EU, the stakes and risks were higher. “Failure could lead to new insecurity and even military tensions between Cyprus and Turkey,” Pope said.

“For the Turkish Cypriots, meanwhile it would mean becoming completely dependent on Turkey. And for Turkey, Cyprus would become a worse problem than before: an economic cost, a diplomatic burden, and, above all, the biggest obstacle between the Turks and their ambition for a full place in the European family of nations.”Normalisation of relations between Cyprus and Turkey would on the other hand bring huge economic and other benefits to both countries.

“There are thus many reasons for Christofias to join with Talat to start real work on a settlement,” said Pope, referring to their long-established dialogue and friendship based on their left-wing parties' common anti-nationalist cause. He said in the past six months, despite altercations in the media, they have held long private discussions after their official meetings.

As far as Turkey was concerned, Pope said a successful outcome of the Cyprus talks would be a chance to set Turkey's EU convergence process back on track.“As a guarantor power in Cyprus, Turkey will have its word to say on the settlement. As former Chief of Staff General Yasar Büyükanit has said, it will have to agree that the Turkish Cypriots will be safe within a well-constructed agreement,” Pope said.

“Public opinion over Cyprus is not the problem some in Turkey pretend that it is: polls show a majority once again support the goal of EU membership. Most Turks… have internalised the idea that the Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots can safely live together within the EU.”

Meanwhile President Christofias' returned from an official visit to Russia yesterday having signed seven agreements with Russia covering financial, commercial and political spheres. with strong criticism of NATO, saying Cyprus would never become a member as long as he was President. According to press reports, central to Christofias’ visit were a possible deal on the purchase of €200 million worth of Russian military hardware, and talks on removing Cyprus from Russia’s tax blacklist, tightening regulations on Russian companies repatriating dividends tax-free from Cyprus.

Commenting on Cyprus-US relations, Christofias said Cyprus would never become a member of NATO as long as he was President but added that he did not regard himself as “an enemy” of either the US or the UK. Both countries were needed to help Cyprus reach a comprehensive settlement, he said. He also said Cyprus wished to see Turkey becoming an EU member, but it must respect EU principles. “We do not want the Turkish military to determine Turkey’s foreign policy or to control the socioeconomic life of the country,” he said.

Christofias visit to Russia and the signing of a joint declaration there has angered the Turkish Cypriots. According to press reports, Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, speaking in Ankara where he has gone for contacts with the Turkish government, said that such actions do not help the negotiations on the Cyprus problem and change the principles agreed by the two leaders. Earlier, Talat's spokesman Hasan Ercakica said: “We want to remind to Mr Christofias that his interlocutor in the Cyprus problem is not in Moscow but in Lefkosia,” he said. “We also want to warn the officials of the Russian Federation on the issue”.

Talks moving on

The UN Secretary-general’s Special Adviser on Cyprus Alexander Downer said yesterday he still believed ongoing negotiations on finding a solution to the Cyprus problem would result in success – albeit more slowly than some had hoped.

“I think obviously the process will go into 2009 and as long as the momentum is sustained they can achieve a good solution in the end,” Downer said after a two-and-a- half-hour meeting between Christofias and Talat.

Yesterday’s meeting was the eighth since the talks were launched on September 3 and focussed on the single issue of governance and power-sharing. Neither of the leaders made comments as they left the meeting, preferring to leave Downer to brief the press.

According to the Cyprus Mail the talks have been fraught with difficulties, with Christofias and Talat frequently trading barbs via the media. Most recently, the paper says, Greek Cypriots this week accused Turkish Cypriots of having a philosophical approach not compatible with the agreed federal setup of a future joint state. The Turkish Cypriots responded by saying it was committed to a federation but one in which it could govern its own affairs. Earlier bickering focussed on the issues of Turkish military guarantees – something the Turkish Cypriot side says is non-negotiable – and whether a solution would mean a continuation of the existing Cyprus Republic. So far, none of these issues have been resolved.

Despite the prevailing public feelings of negativity surrounding the negotiations, Downer said he remained optimistic, insisting that “the process is working quite well now. It is working a lot better than it did initially”.

Asked when he thought the two leaders and their teams would move on to the second item on their agenda, Downer said, “There is no particular time laid down for that but they made good progress on the judiciary and they are moving on Monday to discuss deadlock-resolving mechanisms, and I think you could hope they could get to property before too long”.

His comments were later echoed by Christofias, who agreed property could be on the agenda before the end of the year.“Today, Downer is justified in saying that more progress has been achieved than before,” Christofias said. “We have done well today, to a certain extent. Generally speaking, yes, we have taken some steps forward.”

Downer was at pains yesterday to focus on the more positive aspects of discussions so far, and stressed on the need for the two sides to “maintain momentum”. He added, however, the belief that it would be counter-productive to set what he described as “artificial deadlines” or time limits to the negotiations, saying that such an approach “would actually make the process more difficult rather than easier”. Asked how momentum would be maintained into the coming year Downer said, “I think that is a question of the political will of the leaders,” adding: “I have spent a lot of time with them now, I have come to know them and they are people who do have the political will to find a solution”.

Convergences and divergences

Demetris Christofias and Mehmet Ali Talat yesterday continued direct talks on the issue of the legislature in a future Cyprus settlement.The UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus Alexander Downer said afterwards that the two leaders were “making steady progress” on the issue of governance and will meet again this morning.

“This is an enormously important negotiation for the people of Cyprus and inevitably it’s going to take time and inevitably the negotiations are going to be difficult negotiations but they are making progress,” he said.Asked to define what he meant by progress, Downer said: “There are points of convergence in the discussion, and as they reach points of convergence they are able to move on and there are obviously points of divergence as well and it’s the points of divergence that constitute the debate.”Whether there was more convergence or divergence he would not say although some points of divergence will be discussed by the leaders’ representatives – George Iacovou and Ozdil Nami – on Friday in relation to the legislature.

“As you can imagine for any country governance and power sharing is an enormously important issue. This is a central issue. So it is hardly surprising that it takes a while and I think it is very important to be understanding and tolerant with that frankly. An expectation that you can just suddenly solve all of these problems overnight after so many years is unrealistic,” he said. Discussions were held on the competencies of the federal government, on the executive, the role of the executive and how the executive was elected, he added.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, Christofias,like Downer, said there had been convergence and divergence but refused to elaborate beyond saying that “there must be convergence on the philosophy of the kind of state we want, on how unified, firm and functional this state will be and this is a topic we shall be discussing until the end.” He added that was why they had authorised their aides to meet again on Friday to discuss issues on which final convergence can be reached."If we had the same positions right from the start, the problem would have been solved before we began". He said they would not necessarily agree on everything before moving on to another chapter. “Once we conclude the discussions on all the aspects of the Cyprus issue, then we shall go back to see what give and take we can achieve, where and how,” he said.

Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris reporting on the meeting between the two leaders says under the headline “The kiss of life from the UN” that there was an intervention from the UN inthe negotiations which are proceeding slowly and that Downer participated in the tete-a-tete meeting between the two leaders. Yeni Duzen likewise says “The process was safeguarded”, while Star Kibris also says that “the two leaders passed the 7th crossroad”. 2. UN SG

Meanwhile the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday warned that unnecessary scepticism might not be desirable for the ongoing process for reaching a comprehensive solution to the longstanding Cyprus problem and called on the international community to encourage “this very fragile negotiation process”.

He also said he was impressed by the two Cyprus leaders’ very strong political will to resolve the problem and expressed the belief that the ongoing dialogue “will be much better than before”.
He was speaking during his monthly press conference in New York and replying to a journalist's question on whether reports of an impasse at the Cyprus peace talks were correct and if he planned on taking any measures on that, the UN Secretary-General.

The National Council met the day before yesterday and discussed the course of the ongoing UN-led direct talks between Mr Christofias and Mr Talat. Its agenda also included the restructuring of the National Council with a view to making it more effective.

Government Spokesman Stephanos Stephanou announced that the functioning of the National Council will be discussed at the next session of the House of Representatives, which will be held specifically for this matter on November 24. During the meeting Mr Christofias briefed the body on the talks and the members submitted their views and positions.

Mr Stefanou asked to comment after the meeting of the National Council, on the fact that four political leaders felt that the talks are not going well, said: “We know that there are difficulties in the negotiations. We knew this well before we started this process. As I have said before, the Cyprus issue is in itself a difficult problem and a lot of hard work will be needed, with commitment to principles and with determination and flexibility. We are still at the beginning of the negotiating process. We remain focused and dedicated to this process so that, with our own effort and hopefully with the necessary response from the other side, the road to the solution of the Cyprus problem may open.”

Mr Christofias, commenting yesterday on press reports referring to the opinion of the majority of the National Council, said he disagreed with talk about majority or minority opinions in the National Council. He said what was important was not how many members of the Council say one thing and how many another. "What counts is the strength of the parties".

According to press reports, Tassos Papadopoulos was in favour of the G/C side withdrawing from the talks. In statements afterwards he objected to the fact that what was said in the meeting having been leaked to the press saying that during his presidency this sort of thing never happened.

The UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus Alexander Downer is due to have separate meetings today with the leaders of the two communities in Cyprus. Speaking to the press after meeting with Mr Christofias, Downer said׃ “I had a very good meeting with the President and it’s a good opportunity for me to hear what he has to say, to listen and discuss some of the issues in relation to the negotiations that are taking place. It is very useful to have a discussion with him.”

Asked whether he was optimistic, Mr Downer said׃ “I am. This is inevitably going to be a difficult negotiation and why would anybody expect otherwise. There is a long history here and if these problems were easy to solve they would have been solved a very long time ago. They haven’t been (solved), but the political will has to be there above all to solve the problem of Cyprus and I think that the two leaders do have that political will. Inevitable the details of the negotiations are going to be from time to time difficult. You just couldn’t expect it to be easy. It all comes down to political will and statesmanship of leaders and I think they have the capacity to ultimately deliver an agreement.”

The EU said yesterday that Ankara needs to take concrete steps to contribute to a favourable climate for a comprehensive Cyprus settlement.The Cyprus Mail reports that EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn speaking after the publication of the EU's progress report on Turkey, said that "it can accept any solution agreed by the two communities, as long as a united Cyprus respects the Union's founding principles of liberty, democracy and the rule of law, and is able to carry the obligations of EU membership”.
“This implies a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation with political equality, as defined by relevant UN Security Council resolutions,” he added.Rehn said Turkey had made no progress towards fully implementing the additional protocol it has with the EU in relation to normalising ties with Cyprus. This would include allowing Cyprus air and sea traffic to utilise Turkish ports and air space.“As long as restrictions remain in place on the free movement of goods carried by vessels and aircraft registered in Cyprus or where the last port of call was Cyprus, Turkey will not be in a position fully to implement the acquis relating to this chapter,” Rehn said. As a result of Turkey's non compliance with its obligations related to the Decemebr 2006 protocol, the EU decided to freeze eight chapters of the negotiations, but to continue with the other chapters.The Commissioner also said regional air traffic management was suffering due to the lack of communications between air traffic control centres in Turkey and Cyprus. “This is seriously compromising air safety in the Nicosia flight information region,” he added.

The paper reports that the content of the draft report on Turkey had worried Greek Cypriots, as to what was perceived as a planned endorsement of the controversial property commission in the north. A flurry of contacts were set in motion to clarify what the text of the report would finally contain, culminating in a meeting between Rehn and Cypriot EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou. According to Politis, Vassiliou won a promise to include several of the concerns of the Greek Cypriot side in the report, but had not managed to get Rehn to agree to deletion of the section on the property commission.The final report said the “compensation mechanism” put in place to address the property rights of displaced persons fulfilled in principle the requirements indicated by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and continued to receive requests for compensation. “However, the ECHR has not assessed whether the available remedy is effective for all relevant issues. Turkey has not yet fully implemented the ECHR judgements on the Loizidou and Xenides-Arestis cases,” the report added.

The reports said Cyprus had asked for the references to Turkey’s failure to normalise relations with Cyprus, and the specific areas in which Ankara had failed do this.The government also asked that Turkey needed to be told to show concrete, and not merely verbal support for the new Cyprus negotiations.Politis said Rehn’s reasoning for wanting to exclude a number of negative references to Turkey’s behaviour towards Cyprus was based on the fact that negotiations were underway.

Moreover, according to Ankara Anatolia news agency earlier this week, Turkish President Abdullah Gul reiterated Turkey's support for a settlement of the Cyprus issue that would reunify the divided Mediterranean island. "We remain determined to find a lasting, fair and a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus problem which would strengthen peace, prosperity and security in southeast European and the Eastern Mediterranean," he told a European economic forum.

Meanwhile in New York, the Spokesperson of the UN Secretary General Mrs Michelle Montas, asked what the UN Secretary General thinks about the the view that the Cyprus talks are continuing yet offer no hope, said the Secretary-General does not share that point of view. "He thinks that there is hope and that the talks are going to continue and they’re going to bear fruit. As you know, he met with all the parties personally and he’s very confident that there will be a positive response”.


The Cyprus Mail reports that the author of a short story that caused a storm in a teacup last month has said that a section of Cypriot society, including some of its educators, is evidently not ready for reconciliation with the Turkish Cypriots.

This was the result of Georgiades short story “Mehmet’s Last Wish” being included in the education syllabus to be used as points of discussion in the classroom , part of the Education Ministry’s new policy goal of promoting peaceful co-existence and reconciliation in schools. This sparked an outcry from head of the primary teachers’ union, Demetris Mikellides who condemned the new reading material as provocative. Mikellides called it a distortion of history, referring to the bit in Georgiades’ short story, where EOKA gave orders to destroy mosques. The union chief was criticised by his Vice President, Lazaros Avraam, who said “It would be much more appropriate for him to clearly state his opposition to the goal of peaceful co-existence instead of playing with words" . Eventually, some of the material was withdrawn with the Education Ministry agreeing that it should have been discussed in before the list was drawn up.

However, the Union of Cypriot Writers, of which Georgiades is a member, criticised the removal of certain “sensitive” materials from the list of publications, arguing that “preventive censorship has no place in democratic societies”. Georgiades argued that the short story, first published 20 years ago, was actually based on real events. “It is a true story as I lived it about the close friendship of Phivos (my brother) and Mehmet. The author was adamant that he looked at both nationalist organisations, Volkan and EOKA, through the same objective lens.

Asked to comment on the fierce reaction to his story, 20 years after its publication, he said: “I did not submit the story to the ministry. But it seems Cypriot society is divided on the issue of co-existence. I believe a part of Cypriot society and the primary teachers’ union is not mature enough to accept the progressive ideas of reconciliation in the story. It is two three steps ahead of what some teachers are prepared for,” he added.

This week's meeting

Federal issues were discussed yesterday at the weekly meeting of the leaders of the two communities in Cyprus after which they again instructed their representatives, Nami and Iacovou, to continue their discussions in an effort to narrow remaining differences. They began their session with a one hour tête-à-tête and finished it off with a preliminary exchange of views on the legislature.

They will continue these discussions next week when they will have two meetings on Tuesday 11 and Friday 14 November. Asked by the press afterwards if there was a narrowing of the gap, the UN Special Representative in Cyprus, Mr Tayé-Brook Zerihoun replied: "They are moving forward".

Quizzed by reporters when he returned to the Presidential Palace yesterday, Mr Christofias called for patience adding that when progress was achieved, he would announce it. “Some people are in a hurry. I have said this before. A lot of patience is required and nerves of steel, which I believe I possess,” he said.He also said he would continue to have tête-à-tête meetings with Talat as he did yesterday for one hour before negotiations proper, because it was useful in helping relieve tension between the two sides. “Explanations are given on issues which have taken place and I think that this is useful,” he said.