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.