UN reacts to rumours

The UN issued a strongly-worded statement yesterday refuting allegations in the press that UN Special Adviser Alexander Downer had written a letter to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, telling him that enhancing the role of the EU representative to the peace talks might not help the process. 

“The United Nations in Cyprus considers the dissemination of incorrect information particularly unhelpful at this stage of the talks. The resulting speculation constitutes an unwelcome distraction”, the statement said.

The UN said it welcomed the EU’s participation in the talks and has “benefited from the regular presence” of Barroso’s personal representative at the talks, currently Pieter Van Nuffel from the European Commission’s legal service.

“The United Nations in Cyprus remains committed to assisting both parties in finding a lasting political solution to end the division of the island”, the statement concluded.

The Cyprus Mail covering the story says that the Greek Cypriot efforts for a greater EU role in the peace process seem to have soured relations between the Presidential Palace and UN Good Offices mission in Cyprus.

The paper also says that yesterday’s Alithia cited diplomatic sources confirming the existence of such a letter sent in the form of an email.

One diplomatic source close to the talks told the Cyprus Mail, “I am puzzled. This is the second major lie about Downer and they have both taken place under the current government. The first one was about him supposedly trying to upgrade the dinner when he and everyone else was bending over backwards to keep it low key.

“It makes you wonder if someone isn’t briefing Anastasiades with the intention of undermining the president in the eyes of the international community.”

Opinion poll just more point scoring from hard liners

The leading article in the Cyprus Mail today says that opinion polls in Cyprus are too often used to prove a point rather than to give an accurate reflection of public sentiment. Much depends on how a question is phrased, something pollsters are well aware of, and on the assumptions made. Case in point, it says, is a survey about the Cyprus settlement efforts presented by Sigma TV yesterday. 

Sigma TV, for which the poll was conducted, belongs to the Dias media group which has always taken a hard line on the Cyprus problem and steadfastly opposed all attempts made for a settlement. It was therefore inevitable some of its questions would be loaded. It asked for instance, “are we on a correct or dangerous course as regards the Cyprus problem,” to which 46.1 per cent responded that we were on a dangerous course and 38.6 per cent on the correct one.

But the pollsters did not define what constituted the ‘dangerous’ and the ‘correct’ course. Was it dangerous that the two sides had not agreed on the basis for new talks, or was this the correct course? Or are we supposed to make assumptions as well to understand the result? As the media group which commissioned the survey is opposed to a settlement, should we assume that the ‘dangerous’ course is related to the efforts to start a new bout of talks that might lead to a deal? For some the dangerous course is the one that leads to permanent partition, but for others it is the correct one.

An even more loaded question was, “do you believe the dilemma would be posed that if we solve the Cyprus problem, we will save the economy?” To this 54.5 per cent answered ‘yes’ and 41.5 per cent ‘no’. This was an even more disingenuous question as the implication was that there was some devious scheme to blackmail Greek Cypriots into accepting a settlement in order to ‘save’ the economy. There would be no dilemma.

A settlement could help speed up the recovery of the economy, but people would still be free to make their own decision about a deal. In 2004 many people voted ‘no’ because they felt it was in their financial interests to do so, whereas now they may believe an agreement would better serve their interests. When people’s financial interests make them oppose a settlement it is legitimate, but when these interests make them in favour, they pose a ‘dilemma’.

Loaded questions about the ‘dangerous course’ being followed and the ‘dilemma’ we would face are what we should expect from the closet advocates of partition, who have never had the courage to commission a survey on the real dilemma – re-unification or partition?

No reciprocal meetings without joint statement

Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris reports that according to unofficial information it acquired from a source close to the Cyprus government, in case no progress is achieved as regards the joint statement, the reciprocal visits of the representatives of the two community leaders to Athens and Ankara might not take place.

According to the paper, the source, which wished to remain anonymous, said that this should not be perceived as a precondition for the visits to Athens and Ankara. This view expressed by the Greek Cypriot side stems from the wish of the Greek Cypriot side to see progress on the issue of the text of the joint statement that will launch the direct negotiations between the leaders.