Two leaders have dinner

Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu and his wife hosted a dinner on Wednesday evening for President Christofias and his wife.

Also present at the dinner were the advisers of the two leaders Mr Iacovou and Mr Ozersay with their wives and the UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser Mr Alexander Downer with his wife.

Afterwards President Christofias told the press “we are surely trying to build a better relationship, which, in due course, will have a political impact with positive results in our effort. This happened tonight in a very warm atmosphere. I thank Mr and Mrs Eroglu for their warm hospitality and I intend very soon to reciprocate the dinner with my wife”.The Cyprus Mail reports that the dinner appears to have lifted spirits on both sides and among the UN team.

Speaking at an event in Nicosia yesterday, Downer said as a foreigner and outsider, he would it as “a truly Cypriot occasion”.

“The two leaders, their wives, the representatives talking about Cyprus in ways that only Cypriots can talk about their own island and sharing such a passion and love for their own island,” he added.

The UN diplomat said he did not want to sound “excessively optimistic but I came away from that dinner thinking that these people can work together, they can solve the Cyprus problem…it is not beyond their reach.”

He called on Cypriots to think about the future of the island, not just the past. “Yes we have learnt from history, yes it is important to understand history but at the same time we can only live at the present and look at the future.”

He noted the importance of everyone having a “sense of forward looking hope”, adding, “I think from my experience (on Wednesday night) there is every reason to have positive sentiments and some sense of hope for the future of this very, very beautiful island”.

The two leaders on Wednesday met to discuss property issues. In a statement afterwards Downer said that the meeting was held in a very good positive atmosphere and they would be meeting again on 10 August. He refused to go into the substance of the talks, only saying that the quality of the meetings inevitably varies from time to time.

According to reports in the Greek Cypriot press, the two leaders are no closer to reaching agreement on the tricky property issue with President Christofias insisting on linking it with the issues of territory and settlers, something that Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu has rejected outright, instead insisting on compensation and exchange.

However, Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris reports that Eroglu said that property is a difficult chapter which could not be concluded in 3-5 meetings or in 3-5 days because it is a sensitive issue and both leaders have made some promises to their people. “Therefore, we are trying to clarify our positions and then see whether or not we can build a common bridge, give and take, and reach a common point”, he said adding that the two sides will submit their proposals in the coming days.Noting that property is one of the most important chapters and that the meeting was positive, Eroglu said that it was decided to start the negotiations with the property issue, thinking that if an agreement could be reached on the property, it would be easier to reach an agreement on other issues.

Bayrak television carries on its website a statement by the TRNC Foreign Minister, Huseyin Ozgurgun, saying that the international community should warn the Greek Cypriots that the TRNC will be recognized if an early agreement is not achieved.

He added that the Turkish side wanted to reach an agreement by the end of 2010 but that if agreement isn’t reached the Turkish side has an alternative (plan B. This has not been brought on the agenda as an indication of the Turkish side’s political will to settle the problem.Ozgurgun added that there are two alternatives for the solution of the Cyprus problem “either the two states will be recognized or a new partnership state will be formed”.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has awarded a Greek Cypriot refugee €1.4 million as compensation for loss of use of his property in the north of Cyprus.

Antonakis Solomonides’ claim related to 44 plots of land in Kyrenia, Famagusta, Morfou and Nicosia, representing a total area of 340,000 square meters.

Finding that the applicant “was denied access to and control, use and enjoyment of his properties,” the court awarded €1.4 million as opposed to €6.68 million claimed by Solomonides, who died in 1998.

The ECHR calculated its compensation from January 1987, when Turkey accepted the right of individual petition, and September 1999. The claim was lodged in January 1990.

The Cyprus Mail says the figure awarded was closer to the €1.36 million proposed by the respondent, Turkey, which was based on an estimate of the Immovable Property Commission (IPC) in the north, to which the applicant had applied in the meantime. He later withdrew the application as the move nearly jeopardised his chances for ECHR compensation.

The Cyprus problem was high on the agenda in talks that British Prime Minister David Cameron had in Ankara with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“We discussed our likely contributions to the negotiation process as two guarantor states," the Turkish Prime Minister told a joint press conference. “There are intense political, economic, commercial and cultural talks between our countries. Also our historical relations strengthen the ties between our peoples. This is the golden age in Turkey-United Kingdom relations," Erdogan said and added: "We appreciate the United Kingdom's support to Turkey in its European Union membership process." Erdogan added that no political party in the United Kingdom opposes Turkey's European Union process.