Erdogan calls for international conference on Cyprus

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday joined his Greek counterpart George Papandreou in an Athens press briefing to propose an international meeting with Cyprus’ guarantor powers – Greece, Turkey and the UK – as well a representatives from the UN and EU, to contribute to efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem.

“We must achieve the result as soon as we can., if we put together our efforts we can have results by the end of the year”, he said.

Papandreou on his part said that it was time Greece and Turkey attempted to put the past behind them in order to help find a settlement in Cyprus and expressed the belief that Turkey had the ability to contribute with determination to doing so.

“With the correct solution to the problem of Cyprus, we will make even bigger steps to bring our countries closer,” he said.

He ruled out any guarantees from Turkey and Greece, however, saying he had faith in President Demetris Christofias and would continue to support the Greek Cypriot side in its efforts to restore peace on the island.
To a question on occupying part of an EU member state Erdogan referred back to the 2004 Greek Cypriot rejection of the Annan plan that foresaw a huge reduction in Turkish troops on Cyprus.

“All preparatory work was carried out, and in April 2004 we arrived where we arrived [in Burgenstock] At that point it was Karamanlis and Papadopoulos who suggested a delay to the referendum. Mr Annan was there as well. Annan asked me what I thought. I turned and said we would carry the process forward and do the referendum,” said Erdogan.

He said negotiations between Christofias and newly-elected Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu should now pick up from where they ended with former leader Mehmet Ali Talat.

Erdogan called on his Greek counterpart to support these efforts. “We are guaranteeing powers. We have a duty to succeed in these efforts and reach a conclusion”, he said, adding: “By the end of the year, I think we will achieve our goal, but efforts need to continue.”

Responding to Erdogan’s call, President Christofias said: “Once the conditions are ripe it would be useful to have an international conference with the participation of the UN Security Council members to deal with the international aspects of the Cyprus problem, the issues of guarantees and security,” but for the time being it is the Cypriots who have ownership of a Cyprus settlement.

The Sunday Mail says that with ten days to go before the leaders of the two communities sit at the negotiating table for the first time since the Turkish Cypriot election, one question hanging over the international community is what happens if nothing happens.

According to various sources, the end of the year has become an unofficial deadline for the talks on Cyprus to go somewhere serious. UN Special Adviser Alexander Downer has made it clear they cannot go on forever while sources suggest the Australian diplomat will not renew his six-month contract if there is no movement by December.

The concern among some analysts is that President Demetris Christofias and Eroglu will fail to find a middle ground and instead pirouette around a solution just enough to avoid being blamed for obstructing one.

Recent statements suggest Eroglu dances to Ankara’s tune. His almost clear commitment to continue the talks where they left off and his expressed desire to see a solution by the end of the year add weight to this impression.
On top of that, the appointment of his negotiating team head proves that Turkey will not allow Eroglu to come across as “the intransigent one” in the talks. Whereas some feared he would choose members of the old guard, from Rauf Denktash’s former team, he went for an academic with plenty of recent experience in the peace talks.

“Eroglu opted for Kudret Ozersay. He opted for technocracy over politics because it’s demonstrative that the Turkish side does indeed intend not to grandstand but to continue where negotiations left off from,” Erol Kaymak, an international relations expert told the paper. He added that Turkish diplomacy has changed and is sincere to the extent that they are willing to change the status quo in Cyprus.

However, a diplomatic source said Eroglu will likely play a charming and flexible role in the talks, leaving the onus on Christofias to show that he can deliver the goods and bring on board the other parties. If he cannot persuade the international community that a solution is in reach, then international sympathy will once again move towards Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots.

Makarios Drousiotis writing in Politis says that behind the scenes activity is currently underway which will ensure that the present status quo will end in either a solution or deadlock and that one way or another we will know by the end of the year.

He too says that the international community believes that time is running out and that the UN is planning on changing the procedure at the talks to prevent any one of the leaders from wasting time and to take advantage of the positive attitude shown by Eroglu in his statements so far.

He adds that according to reliable sources, Turkey has assured the international community that the Eroglu election will not change anything at the talks, that the talks will continue from where they left off and that he would not be following any delaying tactics. In return Turkey has received the assurance that some kind of timetable will be followed and that the talks will end by the end of the year.

Elsewhere the paper says that Erdogan invited Eroglu to a meeting in Ankara where he outlined the promises he had made to the international community and vetoed any involvement of the Denktash family in the talks. Mehmet Ali Talat was also invited to Ankara and will be asked to contribute to the talks. Already three of his negotiating team are continuing under Eroglu.

The Sunday Mail’s column Coffeeshop says the Turks’ communications games, which only we in Cyprus can spot, are becoming more sophisticated and ambitious all the time. The latest communications game involved the visit of Prime Minister Erdogan, accompanied by 10 ministers and more than 100 businessmen to Athens, where some 21 co-operation agreements were signed.

No expense is spared by the Erdogan government in its devious scheme to make the world think that it supports a settlement of the Cyprob, while remaining totally intransigent and uncooperative. We were deeply hurt that the government of mother Greece agreed to become an accessory to the Ottoman scheming, helping Erdogan to present himself as a man of peace and conciliation, while his occupying troops remain on our island.

But the mask of the peacemaker fell in Athens when he was asked why his troops were still in Cyprus and he brought up the hated Annan plan, set a suffocating time-frame for a settlement (end of the year), called for a five-party conference on Cyprus in which the Turkish Cypriot leader would be allowed to participate and insisted on keeping guarantees.

The columnist congratulates Greek Cypriot daily Phileleftheros for not being fooled by the latest Turkish publicity stunt. Yesterday’s edition of the paper refused to make Erdogan’s, pseudo-historic, Athens visit its main front-page story, preferring to lead with a report about the trade in Ukrainian eggs.

Comrade presidente could not have been a happy bunny watching the Athens fanfare and hearing Erdogan talk about the five-party conference, which he opposes and setting a deadline for a deal, which he also opposes. The comrade knows that the end of the Turks’ communications game is nigh and does not know what to do. It is a well-known secret that the UN is working to an unofficial time-frame for the conclusion of the talks, which is the same as the one mentioned by Erdogan in Athens.

If there is not sufficient progress by the end of the year, the ghastly Al Downer will fulfil the wishes of the bash-patriotic camp and go home. The only snag is that the UN Secretary-General will not send a replacement, but is likely to order the pulling out of UNFICYP as well. This would be the final instalment of Turkey’s well-plotted communications game.