Downer’s dinner

UN Secretary General’s Special Advisor on Cyprus, Mr Alexander Downer, told the press after a meeting with President Anastasiades that the dinner between the two leaders in Cyprus will go ahead today as planned.

“It will just be the two leaders and their wives, me and my wife and also Lisa Buttenheim and her husband and also an interpreter. Mr Eroglu can speak some English but he canʼt speak a great deal of English. So itʼs just going to be a small dinner, but we are looking forward to it.”

Asked whether this is the beginning of new Cyprus talks, Mr Downer said: “That is not the intention”. He added that the negotiations need to be carefully prepared and when that is all complete then the negotiations will begin.

“I think the main thing is to get the preparatory work done - and done properly - and the two sides obviously have to do that”, he said.

“We are not putting up a date on that, of course, but I think Mr Anastasiades is thinking September – October sometime like that, perhaps it will be finished but there is no point in getting into negotiations until the preparation has been done and obviously I think that stands to reason. He is having a meeting with the National Council in the middle of June and he will talk about the issue with them as well, but there is work still to be done”.

Asked by reporters about a UN document containing convergences achieved in the talks between 2008 and 2012. Downer said he had handed the document over to both leaders on request on April 30. 


As this was at least two weeks before the date Anastasiades initially said he had received the document, the President promptly issued a statement, confirming that the document had been delivered to his diplomatic office, but that he had not been made aware of its existence until May 16, when AKEL leader Andros Kyprianou mentioned it. He blamed his heavy workload and to the fact that his diplomatic office had considered it simply a reference document and therefore non-urgent in terms of substance.

Speaking after his meeting with Downer on Tuesday, Anastasiades said he had made clear to the UN official in no uncertain terms that any new round of talks would not begin from the point they ended in 2012.


“Additionally, I clarified that any proposals tabled by the Greek Cypriot side but rejected by the majority of political forces and people in no way bind me and are discarded,” he said. 


He added that the National Council would meet on June 15 where he will present comprehensive proposals for a new upgraded Council, the appointment of a negotiator, working groups and experts, the preparation of a comprehensive framework of proposals, and the new procedure, which must be agreed, before the start of new talks.

Speaking to reporters after meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, Downer said that it was up to the leaders’ themselves to decide what they would talk about when they come together on Thursday.

“While the Greek Cypriot side has been insisting that the nature of the dinner should be restricted to that of a social event, the Turkish Cypriot side is stating that aspects of the negotiations process could be taken up at the dinner”, Downer added.

Moreover, speaking at a sports function on Tuesday, Eroglu said that the Turkish Cypriot side and Turkey are determined to reach an early solution to the Cyprus problem.

“As has been stated by high level Turkish officials, either we will reach a solution and make Cyprus a peace island, or we will accept that we cannot come to an agreement and announce this”.

Turkey has offered to cooperate with Israel and Cyprus for the exploration and transportation of their hydrocarbon products to world markets via Turkey, Turkish daily Hurriyet has reported.

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told the paper: “The natural gas to be produced from this region will get its utmost feasibility by a pipeline that will pass through Turkey. All relevant figures prove this idea”.  

“Turkey is open to any sort of projects with the accomplishment of political stability in the region”, the Minister added.

Commenting on the possibility that the recently discovered oil and gas reserves off Cyprus could provide an opportunity for Cypriots to resolve their differences and agree on a peace plan, he said: “I agree that opportunity is there. But this should have legality”. He said that the current status of Cyprus’ oil explorations in the Mediterranean was illegal as there was no deal among the countries that have coastlines on the definition of economic exclusive zones.

“They won’t become legal until these reserves are shared by the entire island”, he added.