Federation not confederation

President Anastasiades has said that he will not enter into a dialogue on the Cyprus problem knowing that the preconditions set by the Turkish Cypriot side will not lead to a bizonal, bicommunal federation but rather to a confederation.

“I will not accept anything less than a single sovereignty, a single international personality and and a single citizenship”, he said speaking at an event, organized by the 1955-1959 EOKA Fighters.

He added that the message he wants to send abroad and to the United Nations is that “the Greek Cypriot side is ready and determined to enter into a dialogue of substance. We are not interested in procedures and blame games. We want a solution and we are absolutely honest and determined about this”.

Eroglu responds to Anastasiades

Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, in a written statement accuses President Anastasiades of calling him “arrogant”,  Bayrak television reports.

He said he himself has always been respectful to the Greek Cypriots’ sensitivities and personalities, adding that it is interesting that the Greek Cypriot leader made these accusations after a visit to the EOKA House.

“It seems that Mr Anastasiades is not pleased with my insistence on our sovereignty and the continuation of Turkey’s active and effective guarantee. It is obvious that Anastasiades is continuing to evaluate the EOKA ideology even today, and dreams of taking us back to the pre-1974 conditions”, Eroglu said.

He warned Anastasiades that he is mistaken if he thinks he can persuade the Turkish Cypriots to come under Greek Cypriot sovereignty.

Noting that the Turkish Cypriot side is ready to sit at the negotiating table without preconditions and end the Cyprus problem with a federation based on bi-zonality and political equality, Eroglu said: “We will never sacrifice our political equality and the equal status of the founding states”.

He said that the Greek Cypriot side is resorting to all sorts of tricks to delay the process, the latest example being the joint statement.

Pointing out that all chapters will be negotiated once the talks begin again, Eroglu said that the Greek Cypriot leader has rejected all convergences reached to this day.

“Anastasiades wants current DIKO President Karoyan to win the party elections. He doesn’t want to be accused of being flexible at the negotiating table. This is the kind of games they are playing”, he said.

“We have been waiting for him for the past 9 months. He set up his government, introduced austerity measures. But his continuing delaying tactics are leading us to question his sincerity”, Eroglu noted.

Spokesman replies to Eroglu

The Greek Cypriot side does not intend to enter into a blame game with the Turkish Cypriots, so will not comment on Mr Eroglu’s remarks, Government Spokesman Christos Stylianides said yesterday.

“President Anastasiades has repeatedly made clear that the Greek Cypriot side is ready to enter into substantive negotiations, at the earliest possible, with the aim of achieving a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus problem”, he added.

He said consultations are currently taking place aimed at adopting a joint declaration which will include the basic principles of a solution to the Cyprus problem as these are recorded in the relevant UN resolutions. These basic principles will be “the safety valve and the guarantee” that the negotiations will have a positive outcome.

“The Greek Cypriot side entered this consultation with sincere political will and a constructive approach, and will continue the effort with the same disposition. It expects from the Turkish Cypriot side to show the same political will”, he said.

Erdogan: there is no country called Cyprus

Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that there is no such country as Cyprus, Kibris reports.

Replying to questions after a conference in Poland on  “Turkey-EU Relations”, Erdogan claimed that the “south Cyprus Greek administration”, as he described the Republic of Cyprus, had been accepted into the EU for political reasons and not because it was in harmony with the European laws.

Ertug: Greek Cypriots have moved slightly

The Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu’s special representative Osman Ertug has said that the Greek Cypriot side is “moving slightly” on the issue of the joint declaration, adding that efforts are continuing, Kibris reports.

Speaking after an hour-long meeting with UN Secretary-General’s Special Advisor on Cyprus Alexander Downer, Ertug said that although the Greek Cypriots continue to persist on their “hard line”, they have again submitted a draft joint declaration in which they have moved “slightly”.

He added that on their part, the Turkish Cypriot side had put forward “bridging” proposals during the meeting.

Turkey’s plan B

Turkey has prepared a Plan B for Cyprus in the event that no solution is found within the framework of the UN and that this involves a two-state formula, according to Turkish daily Haber Turk.

The paper quotes a source in Ankara as saying that the new approach is that “a solution will emerge from the non-solution”. It adds that Ankara believes that the parameters on the island have changed with the discovery of natural gas deposits and the water which Turkey plans to transfer to the north part of Cyprus through pipelines.

Ankara’s assessment is that the Greek Cypriots will not be able to extract the natural gas and if they do attempt to extract and use it, “a new partnership agreement with the TRNC or a discussion of the two states will be needed”. The paper says that Ankara believes that the only realistic option for transporting the gas to the world is via Turkey.

A curious war over a notorious joint statement

Loucas Charalambous writing in the Cyprus Mail on Sunday refers to the debacle surrounding the joint communique that President Anastasiades requires for the talks to start.

For two months now, Anastasiades has been saying on a daily basis that there will be no talks before a joint communiqué is issued and for two months now he has been coming up against the refusal of the Turkish side to accept that this would include the provision that the federal state would have single sovereignty and a international personality.

But how serious is this policy? In article 2 of the Annan Plan, paragraph 1(a) states clearly that “Cyprus is a member of the United Nations and has a single international legal personality and sovereignty.”

In the document of convergences prepared by the UN (Convergences 2008-2012), on page 14 it states: “In accordance with the agreed principle of a single international legal personality of the united Cyprus, external relations, including the conclusion of international treaties, shall be the competence of the Federal Government.”

As is well-known, the Annan Plan was approved by Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot community in the most official, the most legitimate way available to democratic societies – a referendum. It is therefore clear that the Turkish side had already agreed that the federal state of Cyprus would have a single international legal personality and sovereignty. We are the one who did not agree to this, as we rejected the plan.

The big question now is, why is Anastasiades creating an issue out of it now? Also, why has he created such a big issue without a real reason? What purpose is this mindless tactic serving?

Answering the question, Charalambous says it seems that the last thing on Anastasiades’ mind is a settlement of the Cyprus problem. All he cares about now is pandering to Marios Garoyian and the other opponents of a settlement.

He goes on to say that a naïve person might ask, since the Turks have already agreed to single sovereignty, why do they have a problem with including a reference to it in the joint communiqué? The answer is pretty straightforward. They have cottoned on to Anastasiades’ games and are trying to exploit his political stupidity. With the president insisting that the Turkish side did not accept single sovereignty, it is now trying to re-sell it to him also seeking something in exchange.

Anastasiades, the writer says, has been divorced from common sense ever since he married Garoyian and became a different man.