Downer: there is no ultimatum

The Cyprus Mail says that the much-anticipated meeting between President Anastasaides and Alexander Downer yesterday saw the Greek Cypriot side talk tough and the UN Special Envoy reject the idea that an ultimatum had been issued.

According to government spokesman Christos Stylianides, the Greek Cypriot side would not enter talks without a joint declaration that would include the basic principles of a settlement.

“The president made it clear to the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy that he will not participate in talks for the sake of talks if there is no joint declaration beforehand that will include the basic principles of a settlement as defined by the UN resolutions,” Stylianides said.

The meeting had been initially scheduled for 12pm but was pushed back as discussions between the UN and the Turkish Cypriot side for the joint statement were continuing, the paper says.

The spokesman added that the president asked that the meeting take place in the afternoon, to give the UN time to exhaust their efforts with the Turkish Cypriot side.

The UN Special Envoy said after the meeting with Anastasiades that discussions were “inching ahead” and expressed the hope that the two sides would come to an agreement.

Downer also tried to dispel the impression that when the UN Secretary-General had said he hoped the impasse would be overcome when Downer returned to the island from November 4-8, which was interpreted by the Greek Cypriot side as an ultimatum.

“The SG didn’t say that. I appreciate it has been interpreted this way but the SG was simply alluding to the fact.. it wasn’t the SG it was a spokesman of the SG… that I was coming back here this week and he really wanted to see the joint declaration,” Downer said. “But this doesn’t mean that when the end of this week arrives and the joint declaration hasn’t been agreed, it will lead to some other consequence.”
The UN official added: “… this is not an ultimatum, there is no ultimatum.”

The paper adds that Downer avoided giving a straight answer when asked whether he thought he still had the President’s trust.

“The UN will do all it can, consistent with the Security Council resolutions, to contribute towards and achieving a solution to the Cyprus problem,” he said. “And I spent quite a few years on this myself, and at this stage the challenge is to get this joint declaration concluded. The SG accepts the strong determination of President Anastasiades to achieve a solution here and I know he is working very hard at it. It is not about me.”

He added: “I find this a very interesting job, but it is not really about me, this is about Cypriots and about trying to ensure that at this stage the joint declaration can be agreed and so every effort is being out into that, not to talk about myself.”

Bagis says Ban Ki Moon plan will come

Turkey’s EU Minister and Chief Negotiator, Egemen Bagis, who is in Brussels for the start of talks with the EU on Chapter 22 regarding regional policy and coordination, has said that in the even of a Cyprus settlement, positive developments will also occur regarding Turkey’s EU accession process, Turkish Cypriot daily Havadis reports.

Bagis said that, as a result of the negotiations that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Adviser on Cyprus Alexander Downer is holding with the sides, “a new plan will materialize by the end of the year which will be a corrected version of the Annan plan. The Ban Ki-moon plan will be put to a simultaneous vote on both sides at the beginning of 2014 and envisages the foundation of a United States of Cyprus, with a single sovereignty in the world, where each side will determine its own domestic affairs based on political equality on the island”.

He added that he expected this would also lift the obstacles on chapters 14 and 16 to Turkey’s negotiations with the EU, which he said “are being blocked for political reasons”.

“The Greek Cypriot side, which is preventing the opening of the chapters, should come to its senses and not jeopardize and mortgage the interests of Turkey, the EU and the 500 million of citizens of the EU member countries, and do what it is correct.”

Eroglu says Cyprus problem must end now

Turkish Cypriot leader, Dervis Eroglu, has said that the Cyprus problem which has been continuing for 50 years must end.

In an interview with Kibris, Eroglu said: “If no agreement is reached, we will sit and evaluate the situation under the circumstances that will exist at the time. Meanwhile, we are focusing on sitting at the negotiating table and solving the Cyprus problem within 3-5 months. We have local elections, Turkey has local elections, then presidential elections and afterwards parliamentary elections. That is, both north Cyprus and Turkey will be very busy with elections. Therefore, if there is a will, we should finish within 3-5 months.”

Asked to comment on the issue of the single sovereignty, single citizenship and single international representation and the complaints of the Greek Cypriot side that the Turkish stance has changed on issues on which agreement had been reached, Eroglu said that “the partnership state will of course, have a single international identity and a single identity and that it will have one citizenship and one seat at the UN”.

“It will be sovereign as well, but where will it be getting its sovereignty from? Now we are saying this: what is the solution we are looking for? A bi-zonal, bi-communal federal partnership state based on political equality, a federal republic. Now, if you say that these founding states will have no characteristics and that they will not give any power to the partnership state, then who is founding this partnership state we call the Federal Republic of Cyprus?” he added.

Asked to clarify the Turkish view as regards so-called “internal citizenship”, Eroglu said: “Those who are now citizens of the partnership state will become citizens of the Turkish or Greek founding states. The Greek side says that only the partnership state should have citizenship. We say that given that this will be a federation based on political equality, these people will also be citizens of our administration as we are a founding state. This is not only for us, but for the Greek Cypriots as well. That is, the Greek Cypriots who are citizens of the partnership state will be citizens of the Greek Cypriot founding state as well. This is what we call internal citizenship.”