Downer back in Cyprus

Politis reports that the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser Alexander Downer had separate meetings in Nicosia today with the negotiators of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides, Andreas Mavroyiannis and Osmen Ertug, while tomorrow he is expected to meet with President Anastasiades.

Meanwhile the Acting Government Spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos said that the Anan plan is dead as far as the Greek Cypriots and President Anastasiades are concerned, and that a new plan is awaited, one that will meet the expectations of the people. 

He added that the joint communique for the start of talks should contain the basic parameters of a solution. He admitted that there was pressure from the UN on both sides to sort this out within four days, but they did not consider this as blackmail.

Eroglu calls for new partnership

Kibris reports that Dervis Eroglu has stated that the Turkish Cypriot side yesterday gave to the UN “its last proposal for a joint communique”. He also said that an end should be put to the issue of the joint communique in the event that the Greek Cypriot side rejects it. In a written statement he calls on President Anastasiades to take advantage of Downer’s presence on the island and sit down at the negotiating table continuing from where they had left off with the aim of reaching a solution in the first quarter of 2014. He added that the UN Secretary-General also agrees with this view.

Speaking earlier at another event, Eroglu said that a solution that provides for the evolution of the Republic of Cyprus into a federation is unacceptable for the Turkish Cypriot people, Eroglu has said, as it was “contrary to the experiences and existing realities on the island” and could cause the victimization of the Turkish Cypriots once more.

He said that the time for an agreement in Cyprus has come and claimed that the Turkish Cypriot side is ready for “a new partnership”, which will have a bi-communal, bi-zonal federal structure based on political equality. Eroglu said that the “partnership state” which will be established, will be formed by two “founding states” of equal status and will have one seat at the United Nations, one identity in the international arena and a single citizenship. At the same time, he argued, the founding states will be able to “act sovereignly” and will have the right to grant “internal citizenship”. He added that Turkey’s “active and effective guarantees” are an indispensable condition for the Turkish Cypriots.

Cyprus Football Association and Cyprus Turkish Football Association sign landmark arrangement

A major milestone in the history of Cypriot football was reached at FIFA headquarters in Zurich today with the signing of a provisional arrangement for the organisation of football in Cyprus, between the Cyprus Football Association (CFA) and the Cyprus Turkish Football Association (CTFA).

Under the arrangement, the CTFA becomes an associate member of the CFA in accordance with the CFA’s statutes and regulations. Furthermore, the CFA will continue to be a member of FIFA and UEFA as well as the governing body responsible for organising, servicing and administering football in  Cyprus. Both parties agreed on the setting up of a steering committee to work towards implementing the arrangement.

The arrangement, which is based on the FIFA and UEFA statutes and only concerns football-related matters, aims to unify and facilitate the progress of football within the football communities on the island through a relationship based on trust, mutual respect and goodwill.

“Both the Cyprus Football Association and the Cyprus Turkish Football Association are today providing the whole world with an excellent example of how football can build bridges and bring people together after a long period of conflict,” said FIFA President Sepp Blatter.