Leaders to meet today

The Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, Nicos Anastasiades and Dervis Eroglu will meet today in a bid to agree on a joint statement from the two sides paving the way to the start of negotiations.

In a written statement, the government spokesman said that President Anastasiades had sent a letter to Eroglu asking for the meeting.

In the letter, Anastasiades said the two sides ought to “redouble our efforts towards adopting a joint communiqué for a first landmark meeting of the leaders.”

He noted that the present juncture is critical for efforts to give a “decisive thrust” aimed at achieving a political settlement.

The statement says that President Anastasiades had suggested they meet over the telephone when Eroglu rang him to convey his condolences over the death of former President Glafcos Clerides.

The meeting has been set for 6.30pm today at the Chateau Status in the UN-controlled buffer zone.

According to the Cyprus Mail, their respective chief negotiators and/or advisers will also be at the meeting, in the absence of UN officials.

A statement from Eroglu’s office called the meeting “a positive development” for resuming the Cyprus talks “from where they left off”.

In earlier statements Eroglu said the time has come for a bizonal federal solution in Cyprus on the basis of political equality and sovereignty and with the continuation of Turkey’s guarantees over the island. He accused the Greek Cypriots of wanting to have sovereignty over the whole island without seeing the Turkish Cypriots as their equals.

“They do not want a bizonal federation and the ‘de facto’ and effective presence of Ankara as a guarantor power.”

Davutoglu: Take advantage of window of opportunity

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called on the Greek Cypriots to start peace talks and take advantage of the “window of opportunity”.

According to Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris, Davutoglu made the comments after a meeting with his British counterpart William Hague in Turkey.

The Turkish FM said that negotiations in Cyprus should start the soonest possible. “We think that a window of opportunity is open in Cyprus. Let the negotiations start the soonest and let golden 2013 not be wasted,” he said.

“However, the meeting between the leaders has been continuously postponed by the Greek Cypriot side.”

He added that Turkey was ready for any kind of step that would pave the way forward for the process and asked Hague to help speed up the issue. 
“It is in no one’s interest to continuously postpone peace,” said Davutoglu.

Hague agreed that a window of opportunity exists for the settlement of the problem in the coming months, noting that a great international effort is being exerted on the issue.

Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris Postasi quoted diplomatic sources as saying that the visits of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot negotiators to Ankara and Athens has been delayed until after president Anastasiades and Eroglu meet.

Why all the hypocrisy over Clerides?

Loucas Charalambous in an article in the Cyprus Mail says that the insufferable hypocrisy that for so long has plagued the political life of this country has also infected the death of Glafcos Clerides.

He says that Clerides’ biggest mistake was surrounding himself with the wrong people, people did not share his own political philosophy. When the time came for him to realise his political vision and reunite Cyprus, these people turned against him, betraying him in the most cruel fashion, allying themselves with Papadopoulos, Lyssarides and Christofias, and fighting him with unbelievable bitterness.

For four whole days after his death, he says, hypocrisy swelled through the accolades heaped upon Clerides’ political acumen. Clerides’ undeniable qualities were praised even by people who had never respected the, in fact had even fought him, going so far as to accuse him of seeking to dissolve the Republic and turn it into a Turkish “protectorate” when he had been brave enough to came out in favour of a settlement in 2004, urging people to vote for it in the referendum and appealing to the public’s logic and political good sense if we were to salvage whatever was left.

The reason for this hypocrisy is plain to see. It’s not because they’ve suddenly had a change of heart. They are just scrambling to take advantage of the former president’s death in order to earn brownie points in the political game. This is the truth sadly, this is the calibre of our politicians, and so we can all stop wondering how it is that we’ve come to this sorry state of affairs.