Wait and see, says Anastasiades

The Greek Cypriot side is playing its cards close to its chest  on possible developments regarding the elusive joint declaration between the two sides that would pave the way for talks to begin, the Cyprus Mail reports.

President Nicos Anastasiades met the party leaders this morning but refused to be drawn when questioned by reporters afterwards. None of the party leaders made any statements either.

Only the Government Spokesman Christos Stylianides, when asked if we were close to an agreement on the joint statement, said that “In the Cyprus problem we may be very near to an agreement, but at the same time very far”.

Asked if the UN had come up with something new, he replied that there was a consensus of view not to make any statements today on the matter”.

A buzz has been created around the fact that UN envoy Alexander Downer turned around on Friday night from boarding a plane home to Australia and returned to the capital to give the negotiations on the statement one last shot for this year.

Anastasiades – who did not meet Downer on his return to Nicosia, nor spoken to him on the phone – would only say: “wait and see”, indicating there might be something afoot in the afternoon following a meeting between Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu in the north.

“It is advisable to wait until the afternoon to see the developments and then there will be a full update,” Anastasiades said.

The meeting of party leaders was also attended by Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides, Assistant Attorney General Rikkos Erotokritou, Government Spokesman Christos Stylianidis, the negotiator of the Greek Cypriot community, Andreas Mavroyiannis,  and the Director of the Diplomatic Office of the President Nisos Christodoulides.

When asked about whether any progress has been recorded after his meeting with the two sides and before his u-turn on Friday, Downer had opted for discretion.

“These are understandably delicate times and the less we say about the substance of these issues the better”, he had said.

After meeting Eroglu, he said he was leaving for Australia to spend Christmas there and would return in the New Year. Downer noted that he would stay in contact with the UN team in Cyprus and New York and both sides on the island, while in the second half of January he would have a chance to update the UN Security Council during proceedings for the renewal of UNFICYP’s mandate.

Asked whether the visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in the occupied areas today would have a positive impact, he had replied that wherever Davutoglu goes there is a positive effect.

Davutoglu is due to hold meetings with the Turkish Cypriot leadership this morning, culminating in a joint press conference with Eroglu this afternoon before leaving the island the same day.

A source close to the talks told the Cyprus Mail that Downer’s turnaround yesterday had nothing to do with the meeting in Athens. The Mail commenting on the joint press conference Venizelos had with Davutoglu said it was perhaps a slip of the tongue, or a hint at elasticity, that the Greek FM had said a solution must guarantee the country’s “single international personality, single external sovereignty and single citizenship”, the word ‘external’ being relatively new to public statements on the matter.

The paper said that Davutoglu had also said that Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots had made efforts to show flexibility and would continue to do so to reach a solution.
 In a possible hint at that self-declared flexibility, Davutoglu said it was important for Cyprus to continue its existence as one state, the Mail concludes.