Hitch in talks

A hitch in the new phase of negotiations on Cyprus occurred yesterday when President Demetris Christofias tried to postpone the planned meeting between him and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu’s ten minutes before it was due to start.

According to reports, Christofias took offence to Eroglu’s statements earlier in the week that statements made by the UN Secretary-General and Alexander Downer do not bind him.

UN Special Adviser Alexander Downer said Christofias’ aide Georgios Iacovou called him at 9.50am seeking to postpone the talks.

However, Eroglu was already on his way to the UN-controlled Nicosia Airport where the talks are taking place. The president briefly considered sending Iacovou instead but once Eroglu arrived at the location, Christofias gathered his team, arriving an hour late.

The Cyprus Mail reports that Eroglu jokingly told Christofias that he was 55 minutes late, while Christofias responded that he only came out of respect for him.

The two leaders spoke for about 15 minutes about the lack of clarity over the basis of the talks, before wrapping up the brief session with an agreement to let their aides discuss the matter later in the day.

They were due to discuss property. On leaving the talks, the president told reporters: “We are trying not to have any complications”.

Christofias explained that he asked for a postponement to avoid a crisis and complications in the talks, noting that the Turkish Cypriot leader agreed to let the two aides meet to figure out a way forward.

“It is clear that Eroglu came under big pressure from his opposition last week and it seems that it is under this pressure that he made these statements. Everyone is under some pressure. Either we have the courage to go on, on the basis which is crystal clear or every time that we are under attack from our domestic front we will review our positions,” he said.

Christofias acknowledged that he too was no stranger to domestic pressures. “I myself am under attack from various sides but I continue not because I don’t take them into consideration. But I have committed myself as President of the Republic, as interlocutor and leader of the Greek Cypriot side and I want to honour these commitments towards the UN and the other side,” he added.

He stressed that if Turkey means what it says, that it wants a settlement by December, then a settlement will be found, assuming the two sides continue from where they left off and honour the commitments already undertaken. “Otherwise we will not be able to find a settlement by December or any December,” he said.

Christofias argued that the UN Secretary-General’s statement on the basis of the talks as read out to the two leaders on their first meeting could not be changed. Even the Turkish Prime Minister said Eroglu would start from where they left off, he noted.

Downer is due in New York next week to brief the UN Security Council. However, the aides agreed yesterday after a three-hour meeting that the leaders would meet again on June 15. In the meantime, Iacovou and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Kudret Ozersay will meet again on June 9.

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has appointed Lisa Buttenheim of the United States as his Special Representative in Cyprus and Head of the UN Peacekeeping force in Cyprus, to succeed Mr Taye-Brook Zerihoun.