Sunday's Politis says that both Christofias and Talat are approaching the discussions on the property issue with trepidation, especially in view of the many changes on the ground that have occurred sing 2004. The paper says that the map of G/C properties has been altered to such an extent that it really needs strong political will for a solution as well as imaginative solutions and expert knowledge. Nevertheless the negotiating teams have done serious preparatary work in this direction and their proposals revolve around the three points of reconstitution, exchange and compensation.
Both sides accept the individual's right of ownership but a key in achieving progress is for the T/C side to accept the inalienable right of the legal owner to have first say as to the determination of his property, something with Talat seems reluctant to do in that it violates the bizonality of a solution. The paper says the G/C side will bring an 80 page document to the table and bases its arguments on international law whereby a legal owner must be the one to decide whether he wishes to live in his property, exchange it or get compensation.
The T/C side believes this is the most difficult of all issues but the present leadership has moved away from Denktah's position that it should be solved by overall exchange and compensation. It accepts that a certain number of properties should be reconstituted to G/C, the question is how many. They believe that a limit should be said to the number of G/C who will be allowed to return to areas under T/C rule. They accept the individual's right to ownership but stop short of accepting that the owner should have first right of say.
According to diplomatic circles, the T/C would be willing to discuss anything provided the G/C side abandons this demand because they fear that if it were to be implemented there would be a wave of people returning to T/C areas, and that buildings built on G/C would have to be demolished. They believe that legal owners should appeal to the Property Council and decide together with the current inhabitants which one of the three options should be implemented on a case by case basis.
Meanwhile former President George Vasiliou in an interview in Simerini on Sunday, says he is optimistic about the prospects for a solution. He says Turkey has nothing to gain by keeping the Cyprus problem unsolved and that a solution would also benefit the T/Cs.
"Personally I believe we are going somewhere. We are heading for a solution to the Cyprus problem, and i say this for two reasons. Firstly because I know President Christofias very well and he is determined to find a solution and secondly because the Turkish Cypriots know full well - and not just those in Talat's party - that without a solution they will cease existing as a separate entity of people. Without a solution they will be absorbed in the 80 million Turks", he explained.
He said he did not believe that Turkey objects to a solution in Cyprus because it constitutes an economic thorn in Turkey's side and it knows full well that without a solution it cannot join the EU.
From there on it's a question of the kind of a solution that will be found and that's up to the negotiators, international conditions and balances of power.
Politicians have united in ‘disgust’ at recent attacks against Turkish Cypriots in Nicosia. The Cyprus Mail reports that the government and political parties yesterday denounced the harassment of Turkish Cypriots by hooded thugs in separate incidents on Saturday. No arrests have been made, but the attacks are believed to have been perpetrated by football supporters on their way to an Omonia versus Apoel football match. According to eyewitnesses, youths on motorbikes and wearing balaclavas attacked a number of cars with Turkish Cypriot licence plates, smashing the windshields and removing the plates. The attacks occurred outside the Apoel football club building. In at least one instance, Greek Cypriots witnessing the scenes rushed to the aid of the Turkish Cypriots, who later filed complaints with police.
The government issued a strong condemnation of the incidents, which it said sought to scupper ongoing peace talks and the climate of reconciliation between the two communities. “We need to denounce all such acts by extremist and nationalist circles.” President Christofias said, while Government Spokesman Stephanos Stephanou called on Greek Cypriots to “isolate the fanatic and extremist elements among us”, as such incidents undermined trust between the two communities. Similar comments were made by all political parties, voicing “shock and disgust” at the incidents and expressing solidarity to “our Turkish Cypriot compatriots”.
The Turkish Cypriot press gave extensive coverage to the incidents, with Kibris newspaper reporting that the Ayios Dhometios crossing point was unusually quiet on Sunday, as many concerned Turkish Cypriots cancelled planned trips to the south. Star wondered how, in light of the attacks, it was possible for Turkish and Greek Cypriots to live together. And nationalist Volkan called for demonstrations in the north to protest against the attacks.
Tuesday 20 January 2009
Saturday 17 January 2009
Things not so bleak, Christofias says
Just four days after complaining about lack of progress in the Cyprus negotiations, President Christofias yesterday spoke of an improvement, the Cyprus Mail reports.
“What I am saying is that things are not bleak, there are issues in which we have made progress and there are issues which are still open and there are disagreements,” Christofias said after meeting Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat yesterday. The UN Secretary-General's Special Adviser for Cyprus Alexander Downer also said that good progress was made at the meeting.
Downer said they would begin discussing the property issue on January 28, preceded by meetings between their aides on the issue. “Today’s discussion was about past acts, deadlock-resolving mechanisms and the hierarchy of norms, with a particular focus on deadlock-resolving mechanisms,” said. “This was a very positive meeting. Good progress was made… and it built on the one of Monday, which was also a very positive meeting.”
Downer repeated previous statements about “cautious optimism”, “the possibility of a real solution”, and “the difficult task” ahead.
“You need to maintain a momentum and you need to carry them through as fast as you can, always taking into account essentially, two things, the complexity of the issues, and there are very complex issues, very difficult issues on the one hand, and on the other hand, there are politically very sensitive issues as well,” he said.
“What I am saying is that things are not bleak, there are issues in which we have made progress and there are issues which are still open and there are disagreements,” Christofias said after meeting Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat yesterday. The UN Secretary-General's Special Adviser for Cyprus Alexander Downer also said that good progress was made at the meeting.
Downer said they would begin discussing the property issue on January 28, preceded by meetings between their aides on the issue. “Today’s discussion was about past acts, deadlock-resolving mechanisms and the hierarchy of norms, with a particular focus on deadlock-resolving mechanisms,” said. “This was a very positive meeting. Good progress was made… and it built on the one of Monday, which was also a very positive meeting.”
Downer repeated previous statements about “cautious optimism”, “the possibility of a real solution”, and “the difficult task” ahead.
“You need to maintain a momentum and you need to carry them through as fast as you can, always taking into account essentially, two things, the complexity of the issues, and there are very complex issues, very difficult issues on the one hand, and on the other hand, there are politically very sensitive issues as well,” he said.
Thursday 15 January 2009
Christofias concerned at lack of progress
President Christofias on Monday said that “unfortunately, despite our intensive efforts, after four months of work, I do not have real progress to report”.
Speaking just before he was due to meet Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat for their second meeting this year, where discussions on governance were due to continue, he said a number of secondary issues had been agreed but there remain significant differences of approach to the issue of the powers and functions of the central government, the system of governance as well as foreign relations.
He complained that the Turkish side is seeking to weaken the powers of the proposed central government as much as possible by endowing the federated units with functions and powers usually reserved for federal governments, giving rise to suspicions that they are aiming for an entity approaching confederation rather than federation, as prescribed in relevant UN Security Council resolutions on Cyprus. He added that the UN process envisioned the evolution of the Cypriot state into a federation, and if we are to have any chance of an agreement this year, the Turkish side must negotiate within this framework.The Cyprus Mail says that the President’s comments mirror information leaked to Anatolia News Agency last month, which claimed the Turkish Cypriot side was seeking as much autonomy as it could get in a federal solution. One such demand was for separate Flight Information Regions (FIR), which the Greek Cypriot side argue is tantamount to asking for two separate states. Another comes under the topic of international agreements made by the federal state. The Turkish Cypriot side wants a footnote to be included which says that the two constituent states can also make international agreements within their own spheres of authority. They also argue that the constituent states should be able to “implement federal government’s laws unilaterally in “appropriate situations”. But the Greek Cypriot side says it should be the federal government which decides whether its laws should be implemented by the constituent states.
The two leaders spent 30 minutes alone before negotiations got under way with UN Special Advisor Alexander Downer. Downer said afterwards the discussions then focused on relations between a federal government and the constituent states.“There was quite a long discussion about that,” he said.Downer said there had also been a renewal of a discussion that had been held sometime earlier on deadlock resolving mechanisms. “These discussions will continue again on Friday morning,” he added. “That will be the last discussion for the time being between the leaders on governance and power sharing and then in all probability at their next meeting they will work out the date for next meeting.” Downer said that meeting would see the start of discussions on the property question.
The Cyprus Mail in a recent editorial referred to Christofias’ pessimistic appraisal of the negotiations saying it gave the opportunity to opponents of the process to criticise the UN for giving out misleading information and to claim that the process was doomed to failure, just as they had been predicting all along.
The paper wonders why he felt obliged to make his feelings public, considering there is still a long way to go and important topics have yet to be touched. It is too early to prepare people for a collapse of the talks, considering he has no intention of walking out when most topics have not even been discussed. Is he trying to put pressure on the UN and the international community to turn the screws on the Turkish side? This also seems implausible as pressure could only be applied when the discussions are completed and the two leaders enter the give-and-take phase. For now, the two sides are merely stating their respective positions, between which there was bound to be some distance. Another explanation is that by slamming Talat’s demands and lamenting the gulf separating the two sides’ respective positions, he is depriving the hard-line camp of ammunition to fire at him. Had he said that most topics relating to governance were agreed, he would have come under a barrage of criticism and accused of making too many concessions because for the hardliners, the negotiations will always be a zero sum game. They always perceive agreement on an issue as a sell-out, because they work on the assumption that what the Turkish Cypriots accept must, by definition, be bad for the Greek Cypriots.
Christofias, therefore, not only has to complain about the lack of progress, but must also accuse Talat of making demands that were outside the UN framework. But would a weak federal government which Talat, reportedly, has been demanding, really be outside the UN framework? If the two sides agreed to this, would the UN mediators object to it? By being specific he may be looking to reassure the hardliners about his tough stance.
While this tactic may serve him well for now, there is the danger that it would eventually turn everyone against a compromise. If he carries on slamming Talat and his demands, there would be nobody left supporting a settlement, long before the procedure is concluded.
Speaking just before he was due to meet Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat for their second meeting this year, where discussions on governance were due to continue, he said a number of secondary issues had been agreed but there remain significant differences of approach to the issue of the powers and functions of the central government, the system of governance as well as foreign relations.
He complained that the Turkish side is seeking to weaken the powers of the proposed central government as much as possible by endowing the federated units with functions and powers usually reserved for federal governments, giving rise to suspicions that they are aiming for an entity approaching confederation rather than federation, as prescribed in relevant UN Security Council resolutions on Cyprus. He added that the UN process envisioned the evolution of the Cypriot state into a federation, and if we are to have any chance of an agreement this year, the Turkish side must negotiate within this framework.The Cyprus Mail says that the President’s comments mirror information leaked to Anatolia News Agency last month, which claimed the Turkish Cypriot side was seeking as much autonomy as it could get in a federal solution. One such demand was for separate Flight Information Regions (FIR), which the Greek Cypriot side argue is tantamount to asking for two separate states. Another comes under the topic of international agreements made by the federal state. The Turkish Cypriot side wants a footnote to be included which says that the two constituent states can also make international agreements within their own spheres of authority. They also argue that the constituent states should be able to “implement federal government’s laws unilaterally in “appropriate situations”. But the Greek Cypriot side says it should be the federal government which decides whether its laws should be implemented by the constituent states.
The two leaders spent 30 minutes alone before negotiations got under way with UN Special Advisor Alexander Downer. Downer said afterwards the discussions then focused on relations between a federal government and the constituent states.“There was quite a long discussion about that,” he said.Downer said there had also been a renewal of a discussion that had been held sometime earlier on deadlock resolving mechanisms. “These discussions will continue again on Friday morning,” he added. “That will be the last discussion for the time being between the leaders on governance and power sharing and then in all probability at their next meeting they will work out the date for next meeting.” Downer said that meeting would see the start of discussions on the property question.
The Cyprus Mail in a recent editorial referred to Christofias’ pessimistic appraisal of the negotiations saying it gave the opportunity to opponents of the process to criticise the UN for giving out misleading information and to claim that the process was doomed to failure, just as they had been predicting all along.
The paper wonders why he felt obliged to make his feelings public, considering there is still a long way to go and important topics have yet to be touched. It is too early to prepare people for a collapse of the talks, considering he has no intention of walking out when most topics have not even been discussed. Is he trying to put pressure on the UN and the international community to turn the screws on the Turkish side? This also seems implausible as pressure could only be applied when the discussions are completed and the two leaders enter the give-and-take phase. For now, the two sides are merely stating their respective positions, between which there was bound to be some distance. Another explanation is that by slamming Talat’s demands and lamenting the gulf separating the two sides’ respective positions, he is depriving the hard-line camp of ammunition to fire at him. Had he said that most topics relating to governance were agreed, he would have come under a barrage of criticism and accused of making too many concessions because for the hardliners, the negotiations will always be a zero sum game. They always perceive agreement on an issue as a sell-out, because they work on the assumption that what the Turkish Cypriots accept must, by definition, be bad for the Greek Cypriots.
Christofias, therefore, not only has to complain about the lack of progress, but must also accuse Talat of making demands that were outside the UN framework. But would a weak federal government which Talat, reportedly, has been demanding, really be outside the UN framework? If the two sides agreed to this, would the UN mediators object to it? By being specific he may be looking to reassure the hardliners about his tough stance.
While this tactic may serve him well for now, there is the danger that it would eventually turn everyone against a compromise. If he carries on slamming Talat and his demands, there would be nobody left supporting a settlement, long before the procedure is concluded.
Tuesday 6 January 2009
New year starts with full agreement
Demitris Christofias and Mehmet Ali Talat yesterday held their first meeting of the new year.
Speaking after the meeting which lasted three hours, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Cyprus Taye-Brook Zerihoun said that the two leaders had reached full agreement on the issue of harmonisation and cooperation between the federal government and the constituent states and are very close to agreement on the question of hierarchy of laws and have decided to continue discussions on this issue in order to overcome the remaining obstacles. He said Special Representative Alexander Downer will be present at the next meetings between the two leaders which will be on January 12 and 16. He added that the two men first had a private meeting that lasted one hour.
Speaking to the press later, Christofias said he thought the meeting went well and that there was mutual understanding. Asked if he had conveyed the G/C side's displeasure at provocative statements coming from the Turkish side, Mr Christofias said that at his meetings he wants to build bridges not blow them up.
The two leaders in Cyprus yesterday issued a joint communique in which they "condemn the attack against Gaza and the disproportionate use of force applied by the Israeli forces that has led to huge loss of life of innocent civilians including women and children". They urge the international community to use its influence to bring the violence to an immediate end.
Diko said it was surprised at this joint communique saying it was as if the President was giving away his right to conduct foreign policy. Government Spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said he was surprised Diko was suprised saying Diko was creating an issue where there wasn't one.
Both Christofias and Talat over the holiday period reiterated the hope that 2009 would be the year for a solution. Christofias said on Friday night during the cutting of the Vasilopita at AKEL that he hoped 2009 would be a year for a solution and reunification of the island but also warned that the Greek Cypriot side would not make unacceptable concessions or shift its position on aiming for a federation in Cyprus.In his New Year message, Talat said the Turkish Cypriots had started to look forward to their future with hope, since talks began last September. “With the election of Demetris Christofias… a new hope for peace was born, and this is how the negotiations process started,” he said. He hoped 2009 would be the year when peace would be found in Cyprus.
Meanwhile a storm in a teacup has broken out over the decision by House President and Diko leader Marios Garoyian to send back a basket of presents sent to him by Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat for the New Year. His action was criticised in the Turkish Cypriot press which called it an insult. Diko said that the reason he did so was because it wrote "President Mehmet Ali Talat" and "TRNC" on the card. Disy leader Nicos Anastasiades responded by saying that accepting a present does not mean recognition. The Government Spokesman refused to get involved.
Speaking after the meeting which lasted three hours, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Cyprus Taye-Brook Zerihoun said that the two leaders had reached full agreement on the issue of harmonisation and cooperation between the federal government and the constituent states and are very close to agreement on the question of hierarchy of laws and have decided to continue discussions on this issue in order to overcome the remaining obstacles. He said Special Representative Alexander Downer will be present at the next meetings between the two leaders which will be on January 12 and 16. He added that the two men first had a private meeting that lasted one hour.
Speaking to the press later, Christofias said he thought the meeting went well and that there was mutual understanding. Asked if he had conveyed the G/C side's displeasure at provocative statements coming from the Turkish side, Mr Christofias said that at his meetings he wants to build bridges not blow them up.
The two leaders in Cyprus yesterday issued a joint communique in which they "condemn the attack against Gaza and the disproportionate use of force applied by the Israeli forces that has led to huge loss of life of innocent civilians including women and children". They urge the international community to use its influence to bring the violence to an immediate end.
Diko said it was surprised at this joint communique saying it was as if the President was giving away his right to conduct foreign policy. Government Spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said he was surprised Diko was suprised saying Diko was creating an issue where there wasn't one.
Both Christofias and Talat over the holiday period reiterated the hope that 2009 would be the year for a solution. Christofias said on Friday night during the cutting of the Vasilopita at AKEL that he hoped 2009 would be a year for a solution and reunification of the island but also warned that the Greek Cypriot side would not make unacceptable concessions or shift its position on aiming for a federation in Cyprus.In his New Year message, Talat said the Turkish Cypriots had started to look forward to their future with hope, since talks began last September. “With the election of Demetris Christofias… a new hope for peace was born, and this is how the negotiations process started,” he said. He hoped 2009 would be the year when peace would be found in Cyprus.
Meanwhile a storm in a teacup has broken out over the decision by House President and Diko leader Marios Garoyian to send back a basket of presents sent to him by Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat for the New Year. His action was criticised in the Turkish Cypriot press which called it an insult. Diko said that the reason he did so was because it wrote "President Mehmet Ali Talat" and "TRNC" on the card. Disy leader Nicos Anastasiades responded by saying that accepting a present does not mean recognition. The Government Spokesman refused to get involved.
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