Friday 30 July 2010

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.

Sunday 25 July 2010

Downer: Good momentum at talks

The leaders of the two communities on Thursday concentrated their discussions for reuniting Cyprus on the issue of property.

In a statement afterwards, the UN Special Representative in Cyprus, Alexander Downer, said the discussion will be continued on Monday and they will be getting together again next Wednesday to talk some more about this issue.

“They had a long meeting today and they had a good meeting today in the sense that they were able to talk very frankly with each other about issues that they have, and differences that they have, and convergences that they are confident they can build”.

He said that the overall view of the United Nations is that there is good momentum. The leaders are showing a lot of commitment to meeting, to talking through issues, including the Representatives”.

Commenting on recent statements from both sides on the occasion of the anniversary of the 1974 events, Mr Downer said this was a difficult time for all Cypriots.

“It is of course a time when people focus on history and focus on the past, and the important thing is that the leaders are working towards the future; they are not working towards the past, you can’t revisit the past. You can only live in the presence and the future, and the leaders are working towards the future, and we in the United Nations are very encouraged by that”.

The two leaders must tell people the truth about what is and is not possible if a Cyprus solution is finally to be found, said UN Special Adviser Alexander Downer on Wednesday 21 July at the launch of PRIO’s third report on the Cyprus peace dividend, the Cyprus Mail reports.

Downer urged the two leaders to tell the people what they needed to hear, not what they wanted to hear.

“Great leaders are all brave people and they change the paradigm. They don’t just tell people what they want to hear, they tell people what they need to hear. They tell people the truth, they level with people,” he said.

“They’re fair on their societies by being honest about the challenges that they face, about what can be achieved and what can’t be achieved, what hopes can never be fulfilled, what hopes can be fulfilled. That’s leadership,” he added.

He said the greatest leaders in history had a vision for their country, the ability to understand different points of view and to empathise with their adversaries. “They may not agree with them, but they can understand why they have that point of view.”

“You have an opportunity here in Cyprus to set an example to the world, of how Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, for all the tragedy of the past that there has been, can come together and agree on building a new federation.

“It would be a great moment for this country, for this island, to put behind it the tragedy of the past. It would be a great moment for the world if Cyprus could lead the way and show that differences can be settled, solutions can be found to those differences and that a common vision can be pursued for the future,” he said.

The Turkish Cypriot side yesterday accused President Christofias of putting forward proposals he knew would be rejected in the north, the Cyprus Mail reports.

Kudret Ozersay, the Turkish Cypriot leadership’s Special Representative at the talks, told the paper the proposals represented nothing new, and called on Greek Cypriot side “to take a more constructive and responsible attitude” towards the ongoing talks.

He insisted yesterday that Christofias’ “diplomatic sleight of hand” contained nothing more than a regurgitation of past proposals that he knew would be rejected by the Turkish Cypriot side.

“Exchanging Varosha for direct trade was under discussion three years ago. It’s not something new,” Ozersay told the Sunday Mail. He added that direct trade was an EU proposal, and not a Greek Cypriot concession, and therefore it did not justify a concession from the Turkish Cypriots.

Another of Christofias’ proposals called for an international conference dealing with international agreements and treaties relating to the island. Ozersay said such a proposal had been made in March this year but had been rejected by the Turkish side because the proposal called for the Greek Cypriot side to effectively be represented twice, once as the Republic of Cyprus, and again as the Greek Cypriot community. The Turkish Cypriots, on the other hand, would be represented only once at the conference as the Turkish Cypriot community.

“If you propose things that you are aware the Turkish Cypriot side cannot accept, that means you are not serious and you are simply seeking a rejection,” Ozersay said.

Ozersay also criticised the third element of Christofias’ proposal, namely that the property issue be linked to the issues of territory and settlers from Turkey.

“The reason we are against this kind of linkage is because it ends up being a means by which the talks can be sabotaged,” Ozersay said. “The property issue is already complicated, so why insert other chapters into it?” he said, adding that the best way to deal with issues was on a one-by-one basis, and then trading off non-agreed subjects at the end of the process.
Ozersay said he had also been upset by the way Christofias had delivered his “proposal”, namely during a public speech to mark the anniversary of the Athens-inspired coup in July 1974 that triggered the Turkish invasion.

“If you are serious and want your ideas to be discussed, why don’t you propose them at the negotiating table? This is not a serious or appropriate way to make a proposal,” he said.

The Mail says that despite his relative youth, the thirty-seven year-old Ozersay has served as advisor to both previous Turkish Cypriot leaders, Rauf Denktash and Mehmet Ali Talat. He insisted yesterday that his current boss Dervish Eroglu, despite his nationalist mantle, was committed to the UN framework for talks.

“Had I thought Eroglu was not serious or was not willing to abide by his commitments to the UN, I would not have accepted this position,” Ozersay said.

Commenting on differences between in the negotiation strategies of Eroglu and his moderate predecessor Talat, Ozersay said,” Eroglu asks for more competencies [powers] for the constituent states, but he knows that he cannot cross the line and challenge the single international legal personality of the federal partnership. What he cannot accept is that the constituent states be treated, or have powers like, a municipality”.

Ozersay believes Eroglu is “a strong leader in the sense that if he is convinced by a text, I’m sure he can sell it to the people”.

The Cyprus Mail’s satirical column, Coffeeshop, says today that the Comrade president is having great difficulty coping with the pressure he is under. He is increasingly behaving like a man who has lost control and is desperate to regain it.

But he is deluding himself if he thinks that by making impassioned pleas for unity, he will eventually regain control. The funny thing is that his idea of unity involves the great, omniscient leader taking the decisions and everyone else applauding them. It is a philosophy that is best described by the German, ‘Ein volk, ein reich, ein Christofias’.

The unity message also featured prominently in the interview about the Cyprob that he gave to Costas Yennaris on Tuesday night, but we will not go into it. The only thing worth repeating was his comment about the package of proposals for the Cyprob talks, because it was so zany it recalled the late great Spy Kyp. He said “the first indications, internationally, were that the package of proposals was positive.” The package was announced at some black anniversary gathering instead of being submitted at the talks and, subsequently Eroglu publicly rejected it. Despite the rejection, Tof, in another Spy Kyp gimmick, said that its promotion would be intensified. Who the intensified promotion would be targeted at, he did not say. It could be the Russian or the Chinese, who are more likely to agree to just solution than the Turks.

Turkish Cypriot journalist and political commentator Mehmet Ali Birand writing in the Turkish Daily News and Politis says that the Greek Cypriots are making a gross miscalculation. They think that Turkey will compromise in Cyprus in order to become a full member of the EU. But what they don’t realise is that it is the other way round. If the Greek Cypriots want a solution, then Turkey’s way to Europe should be paved. Unless Ankara obtains from the EU what it desires, it won’t approve of any solution in Cyprus. Our Greek Cypriot friends are not aware, but they are missing the opportunity.

There are three scenarios in front of us:
- As long as Turkey remains outside the EU there won’t be any solution in Cyprus. In this case Ankara will start its recognition efforts and, rest assure, that the number of those recognizing Turkish Cyprus will increase.
- Once the way for Turkey’s full membership to the EU is paved, last-minute solutions won’t be good for either the Greek Cypriots, or the Turks.
- It is wise to find a solution by 2013. The Annan Plan has formed the necessary grounds. Now it’s good to find a compromise with sacrifices on both sides.

Greek Cypriots generally tend to want the whole of Cyprus under their control and as long as that doesn’t happen then today’s situation will persist. All opinion show this.

I can still hear what a Greek Cypriot told me: “We don’t want to live together and share Cyprus with Turks. During the day we want to go to the north and they can come to the south, but at night everybody should go home. The Turks can live in their own region but should not intervene in the country’s administration.” This is the situation.

The Greek Cypriots, willingly or unwillingly, divide Cyprus into two and go as far as losing the north.

Wednesday 21 July 2010

Talks cannot go on indefinitely

UN-backed efforts to reunite Cyprus could be lost unless a breakthrough is made by the end of the year, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek said yesterday in a speech at a military parade in the north of Nicosia to commemorate the Turkish invasion on 20 July 1974.

"We seek a solution by the end of 2010. However, if this cannot be achieved everyone will go their separate ways," Cicek said. "The talks cannot go on indefinitely".

"I call upon the EU and those who back the Greek Cypriot side to review their approach and to contemplate what will happen if there is no solution by the end of the year," Cicek said. "For those who ask Turkey to make a decision between north Cyprus and the EU, let me say that we will always choose Cyprus", he added.

Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu in his speech yesterday echoed Cicek’s comments.
"If a solution is going to be found it must be based on the reality that there are two equal peoples and two equal states in Cyprus," he said.

“After 20 July 1974, there has been a new geography and two separate states, two separate peoples, two separate republics and two separate sides within this geography. An agreement reached in Cyprus should be based on these realities and should include our sovereign equality and full and effective guarantees of motherland Turkey. Since I became the President, I have been stressing that if there is a will, we shall reach a permanent agreement by the end of 2010. All contacts and proposals I have made are directed towards this aim.”

The Turkish Cypriot leader ruled out any link between Turkey's accession process and the return of Varosha Greek Cypriots as had been put forward in a package of proposals to the Turkish Cypriot side by President Christofias at the talks.

The package suggests linking the discussion of three of the chapters of the Cyprus problem – those dealing with property, territorial readjustments and the one dealing with immigration, citizenship, foreigners and asylum. The proposals also urge Turkey to apply the UN Security Council resolution 550, adopted in 1984, which provides for Turkey handing over Varosha to the UN. It also includes the opening of the port of Famagusta under the auspices of the European Union. Christofias has also proposed convening an international conference “when we are within range of an agreement on the internal aspects (of the Cyprus problem).” The international conference would be convened by the United Nations with the participation of the five permanent members of the Security Council, the European Union, the guarantor powers, the Republic of Cyprus and the communities. Its objective would be resolving the international aspect of the Cyprus problem, which includes the issues of guarantees and security, the presence of foreign military forces in Cyprus as well as the presence of Turkish settlers.

In a lengthy interview on CyBC last night, President Christofias said that, if accepted, the package of proposals will provide a boost to the negotiating procedure with the aim of achieving a solution soon.

The Cyprus Mail in its editorial yesterday on the anniversary of the Turkish invasion, says north of the Green Line there will be celebrations and triumphal speeches while south the mood will be sombre. We have seen and heard it all before and are condemned to do so this time next year again, because, despite the rhetoric, the maintenance of the status quo appears to suit the political leadership of both sides, not to mention Turkey for which the continuation of the occupation no longer has a cost.

This is why it is very difficult to entertain much hope of the latest peace talks yielding an agreement. Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu believes in a two-state solution, even though he has been instructed by Ankara to adopt a softer line at the talks and has done so. President Christofias, believes in re-unification but has shown time and again that he is not willing to take any big risk to achieve his objective. He is content for the talks to continue at a slow pace – no asphyxiating time frames – without ever reaching a conclusion. It is the one issue on which he sees eye to eye with Eroglu.

To a large extent, both are in tune with the wishes of the people they represent. Majorities on both sides are opposed to re-unification, for very different reasons. This is understandable considering the innate conservatism and aversion to risk which characterize both communities. An agreement involving power-sharing, territorial re-adjustments, property compensations and movement of people is a big risk which few people on either side are prepared to take for the obvious reason – they are content with the way things are.

Why support an agreement that would give rise to an uncertain future? The fact that the benefits of an agreement have never been sold to the Greek Cypriots has not helped things. In 2004, the Turkish Cypriots voted in favour of the Annan plan because the benefits of the deal had been very well marketed on their side, whereas the Greek Cypriots rejected it because it was presented in a totally negative way by the political leadership and the media. Other factors were also at play but there is little doubt that the majority of Greek Cypriots did not need much convincing.

Six years have passed since the referendum and the majority of people on both sides appear to have come to terms with the idea that the status quo will, by default, become the solution of the Cyprus problem. This is the easy option for everyone, including the politicians, as it is perceived as the no-risk path. Of course, nobody ever mentions the fact that maintenance of the status quo would be a big victory for Turkey, which would hold on to everything it seized by force 36 years ago. We might realize this when we are marking the 50th anniversary of the Turkish invasion.

Coffeeshop, the Cyprus Mail’s satirical column, last Sunday wrote that the marking of, what AKEL traditionally describes as the ‘the black anniversaries of the twin crime of 1974 against Cyprus,’ begun last week and are set to be completed on Tuesday, presumably with yet another public gathering for the AKEL hordes.

The politically correct societies of the West would not have referred to the twin crimes of ’74 as ‘black anniversaries’ because of its racist connotations. Thankfully, we have not reached high levels of political correctness so there is not really an issue about the black anniversaries. But if it ever arises we could start referring to the ‘grey anniversaries’. It would offend nobody and accurately reflect the merciless dullness and high boredom factor of the speeches and events they inspire.

North of the green line, the mood is different, where the white anniversary of the invasion is celebrated with a military parade, to remind our Turkish Cypriot bros of the debt they owe their motherland and of who is actually in charge. Our bros have been complaining that the Harpoglu pseudo-government was giving pseudo-citizenship to Turkish mainlanders and that they have become a minority in the north. It is estimated that TCs constitute just 40 per cent of the population in the north, which means our bros are once again a minority. They still have more political power than the mainlanders they snobbishly look down on, but they realise that by the 40th anniversary of the invasion these impoverished, uncouth Anatolian labourers may be running the show. There’s a cause for celebration.