Leaders to meet with UN S-G in New York

The leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities will be meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon on November 18 in New York, within the framework of ongoing talks to resolve the Cyprus problem, the UN announced yesterday.

According to reports in the press, the meeting is an effort to help resolve the property issue by the end of the year.

A UN progress report is expected by the end of November.

Ban had previously telephoned the two leaders to express his concern at the slow pace of the talks and urged them to make concrete progress.

Yesterday, President Christofias said he will request that the discussion move onto territory.

“Because I see that we could be led to a possible deadlock on property, I will ask once more, and repeat with emphasis, that there is a need to move on to discussion of territory, which is directly related with the property issue,” Christofias said. “If we find common language on territory, by widening the area under Greek Cypriot administration the issue of property will be discussed more easily.”

The basic position of the Greek Cypriot side is that the legal owners of the properties in the north should have first choice – in case of a solution – to decide if they want restitution, exchange or compensation.

The Turkish Cypriot side proposes that the final decision for every property should be made by a property commission based on criteria, which, Greek Cypriots say, will essentially preclude – except in rare cases -- restoration of the property rights of the lawful owners.2. Eroglu discusses property issue with Gul in Ankara Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu travelled to Ankara yesterday for talks with Turkish President Abdullah Gul on the property issue.

Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris reports that the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the property issue, as well the areas to be returned to the Greek Cypriots and the compensation of the properties which will remain in the north. Kibrisli reports that the meeting in Ankara will determine “the next steps” the Turkish side will take and Eroglu’s tactics during the forthcoming meeting in New York with Christofias and the UN Secretary-General, as well as the issues of property, Varosha, the opening of the occupied port of Famagusta and the privatization of the illegal Tymvou airport.

Kibris reports that developments are in progress which justify those who say that the process for solving the Cyprus problem will be intensified before the end of the year.

Eroglu was accompanied by a large delegation which also included high ranking members of the Immovable Property Commission, Eroglu’s advisor on housing, legal advisers, his minister of finance and his attorney general. They returned to Cyprus on the same day.

3. Turkish Foreign Ministry on the ECHR Ruling
According to Bayrak television, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that the recent compensation ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against Turkey does not question the effectiveness of the Immoveable Property Commission established in the TRNC as a domestic remedy.

The ECHR ruled that Turkey should pay a total of 15,001,498 Euros in respect of pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages and a total of 160,375 Euros for costs and expenses with regard to 19 cases submitted by Greek Cypriot applicants.

“Greek Cypriots can either apply to the Commission in the TRNC for their property cases or wait for a political agreement to be reached on the Cyprus issue,” the spokesperson for the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Selcuk Unal, said.

He noted that the door is open for appeal to the ruling at the Grand Chamber of ECHR.Reminding that 727 cases have been brought to the Immoveable Property Commission so far, Unal pointed out that 189 of these cases have been concluded. He added that there were two more property cases pending with the ECHR which were submitted before the ruling in favour of the Immoveable Property Commission.

4. Bagis says Turkey has made innumerable initiatives on Cyprus
In statements on the Cyprus problem during the 65th meeting of the Joint EU Turkish Parliamentary Committee last week, Turkish State Minister and Chief Negotiator with the EU, Egemen Bagis said that the Turkish side has always supported the solution of the Cyprus problem and has undertaken “innumerable initiatives” in this direction.

According to Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris, responding to questions of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) on the Cyprus problem, Bagis recalled the EU “promise” to the TRNC to lift its isolation when it accepted the Annan Plan. Bagis said that the EU could not expect any “new step” by Turkey when the Union does not implement its own decisions.

According to the paper, when Greek Cypriot MEPs said that they expect from Turkey to take a constructive step, Bagis asked them whether they are ready to repeat the negotiations held in 2004 in Burgenstock, with the aim of finding a solution in Cyprus. “If you have the courage, come and let us carry out the meeting in Burgenstock again”.

When the Greek Cypriot MEPs called for the withdrawal of the Turkish occupation troops from the island, Bagis said that Turkey had attempted to withdraw its troops, but the Greek Cypriots rejected this by saying ´no´ to the Annan Plan, which provided that initially 950 Greek soldiers and 650 Turkish soldiers would remain on the island and that later all the troops would be withdrawn with a referendum held at the beginning of 2010.