Leaders pessimistic but round two considered

The the direct talks between the two communities are not going as well as expected, President Christofias said on Friday night, the Cyprus Mail reports. Addressing a bicommunal event, Christofias said Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat’s position for the existence of two nations in Cyprus does not only contradict historical reality, but also the treaties that founded the Cyprus Republic as a unified bicommunal state.Christofias also hinted that Talat was starting to remind him of former Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, who was openly in favour of a partition between the two communities.“The common philosophy of AKEL and the Turkish Republican Party, up until recently, was that in Cyprus there is one nation, which consists of two communities: the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots,” said Christofias. “Now, I am saddened to see that this position, regarding the supposed existence of two nations in Cyprus, was supported by Mr Denktash in his policy for the creation of to separate states in Cyprus,” he added. Continuously highlighting the existence of two nations, said Christofias, was doing little to assist efforts for a resolution to the Cyprus problem.“Unfortunately, such positions sometimes appear on the table of negotiations,” he explained. He referred to the pessimism that can be deduced through polls between the people of the two communities, assuring, however, that “efforts will not be abandoned”.

On his part, in a recent interview with the Turkish Cypriot news agency, Talat was equally pessimistic. He added that it was nearly impossible to reach a solution to the Cyprus problem before the end of 2009. “Maybe even 2009 will pass without a solution. The negotiating process is moving at very slow rhythms". “From the moment that the Greek Cypriot side did not accept the Annan Plan as a basis for discussion, we have almost started from zero,” he said. “The international forces must certainly take action and look at the issues, which the two sides can’t find solutions to,” he added. He said Christofias entered the negotiations as a different person, “He is not as I expected him to be,” he said, adding that this was a huge disappointment to him, especially when Christofias attacked Turkey.Referring to his position that there are two nations in Cyprus, Talat concluded, “Of course there are two nations, with different languages, religions, joys and woes. When one is happy, the other is sad. Only if there is an earthquake or airplane tragedy will they have the same reaction.”He didn’t, however, exclude the possibility that the future could see the creation of one nation with two different languages.

Politis says that the property issue which is due to come up for discussion in January, is turning out to be a serious problem for the negotiating teams as they don't have any real experience in property matters and need the input of foreign experts to come up with solutions. The only thing they have to help them are the provisions that existed in the Annan plan but these can only be used as an aide in view of the fact that they are virtually starting from scratch. The two leaders, the paper adds, both realise that the talks are proceeding very slowly and are thinking of ways to speed up the process, such as six hourly weekly meetings of the leaders and even more active involvement of their advisers in the process. Few people believe that they will reach the deadline of the Euro-elections in June but are looking towards the evaluation of Turkey's EU entry talks in December 2009 and Talat's future who is up for re-election early in 2010. Despite the concern in diplomatic circles at the leaders inability to find once all issues are taken together, particularly when viewed together with the property issue. Meanwhile options are already being considered as to how the second stage of the process should proceed, with the belief being expressed that the international community should isolate the leaders, without party representatives from either side, somewhere abroad, where the final give and take will take place.