Talks continue

Talks between the Greek and Turkish communities continued on Tuesday and four more meetings were scheduled to be held by the end of next month.

The UN Secretary-General’s new special representative in Cyprus, Lisa Buttenheim, who took over from Mr Zerihoun, said that Demetris Christofias and Dervis Eroglu met for two hours and continued discussion on property.

She said the next meetings have been set for 23 June and 9, 22, and 28 July.

On his return from the talks, Christofias said the two sides had submitted their positions “and will proceed in accordance with the dates announced” both on leader and representative level.

It was also decided yesterday that the leaders’ representatives, George Iacovou and Kudret Ozersay, will visit the Limnitis area to see how work to open the checkpoint was progressing. The date for the visit remains to be agreed.

The UN Security Council yesterday adopted a resolution renewing the mandate of the peacekeeping force in Cyprus for a further six months.

The resolution was approved with 14 votes in favour and one against – Turkey’s.

Ankara’s permanent representative said his country did not vote for the resolution because since 1964 the resolutions refer to Cyprus as if there is only one side on the island.

Ertogrul Apakan said his country agreed with most of the parameters included in the resolution but objected to the addition of the words “if possible” – in reference to the timeframe of a solution -- that was included in the preamble.

In the resolution, the UN Security Council “emphasises the importance attached by the international community of all parties engaging fully, flexibly and constructively in the negotiations, echoes the Secretary-General’s view that a solution is well within reach, and looks forward to decisive progress in the near future building on the progress made to date consistent with the hope expressed by the two sides on 21 December 2009 that, if possible, 2010 would be the year of solution.”

The words ‘if possible’ were added after the Greek Cypriot side suggested that the original text effectively placed “suffocating deadlines” on the talks.

The Security Council welcomed the “the progress made so far in the fully fledged negotiations, and the prospect of further progress in the near future towards a comprehensive and durable settlement that this has created.''

It urged the two sides to fully exploit this opportunity, including by intensifying the momentum of negotiations, preserving the current atmosphere of trust and goodwill, and engaging in the process in a constructive and open manner.

The Security Council asked the UN Secretary-General to submit a report on implementation of this resolution, including on contingency planning in relation to the settlement, by 1 December 2010 and to keep the Security Council updated on events as necessary.

The Government Spokesman Mr Stefanos Stefanou, asked yesterday about Turkey’s reaction to the UN Security Council resolution extending UNFICYP mandate, said it clearly exposed who was satisfied and who wasn’t with the particular resolution.

“Persistent attempts were made by Turkey and its friends and close allies, to use the resolution for setting timeframes and altering the agreed negotiation basis”, he said adding that that had been averted due to the coordinated and targeted actions by the President of the Republic, the Cyprus Government and friendly countries.

“We had some drafts and with the assistance of friendly countries that have not abandoned us, as some have claimed, we managed to achieve a balanced and satisfactory resolution”, he further stated.

According to reports in the Turkish Cypriot press, the former Turkish Cypriot leader, Mehmet Ali Talat has said that the new Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu is not sincere when he talks about reaching a solution to the Cyprus problem by the end of the year.

In an interview to Cihan news agency, Mr Talat noted that finding a solution in Cyprus by the end of the year is possible, but one should have the necessary vision for this and work with this aim.

Mr Talat said the fact that Mr Eroglu started the negotiations from the property issue was a “mistake” as it was the “the thorniest issue on which absolutely no work has been done”. He alleged that doing so only helped the Greek Cypriots as it was tantamount to leading the negotiations to a “point close to a deadlock”. Mr Eroglu should not have accepted this proposal of the Greek Cypriots. “That is, they want to delay us anyway. In a sense, we are giving them a trump card by opening for debate a delaying chapter. I do not want to say that this was a vital mistake, but the correct thing to do was to continue with the governance and power sharing, because there is a lot of progress in this chapter. If this chapter was advanced and a broader agreement was reached, speeder progress could have been achieved on the other chapters. Mr Dervis, however, preferred the property thinking ‘let us postpone these issues’, because he is too sensitive especially for the issue of single sovereignty”.

Mr Talat also accused the Greek Cypriots of not want an early solution, because they think that as long as they corner Turkey in its accession process into the EU they will acquire more advantages.