Two negotiators hold meetings in Athens and Ankara

The two negotiators on the Cyprus problem held “historic” parallel meetings with Greek and Turkish diplomats in Athens and Ankara, breaking the ice with the so-called respective “motherlands”, the Cyprus Mail reports.

Andreas Mavroyiannis met with Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu in Ankara while at the same time Kudret Ozersay met the General Secretary of the Greek Foreign Ministry, Anastassis Mitsialis, in Athens, far from the watchful eye of the media.

No statements were made after both meetings, while the media were kept at a distance from the buildings where the negotiations took place.

According to reports from various media in Cyprus, Greece and Turkey, both negotiators were warmly received by their hosts while the meetings were held in a positive climate.

CyBC yesterday cited reports saying that the Mavroyiannis-Sinirlioglu meeting was held in a very good and friendly climate. The two had a constructive discussion in a climate of understanding and cooperation where Turkey expressed its support to the peace process.

The CyBC’s Istanbul correspondent also reported that Mavroyiannis did not raise specific issues during the meeting - earlier reports had him ready to discuss Turkish troops, settlers, guarantees and the opening of Varosha with Ankara - but instead laid out Anastasiades’ political vision and determination for a solution.

According to Hurriyet Daily News, a Turkish diplomat said the meeting was “a positive beginning”, noting particularly the importance of the “psychological influence” of these mutual meetings.

Asked if the visits would continue, the same source said they foresee they will, though no date has been set.

Ozersay was reportedly going to discuss the need to lift the ‘embargo’ on the Turkish Cypriots. Before meeting with the Greek diplomat, the Turkish Cypriot negotiator was quoted saying he was going to Athens with a “briefcase full of surprises”. He also said the mutual visits would help to remove prejudices.


Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the visits would have a positive impact on the talks, and called for their continuation and in greater depth.

“The island of Cyprus belongs to both communities. The Cyprus Republic was established by the 1959-1960 agreements and by the two communities. Today, both communities have the political will to overcome this problem. Turkey and Greece support this political will,” he said.

Ozersay was quoted by Turkish Cypriot paper Realist saying that Davutoglu would visit the island on Monday.

Greek paper To Vima yesterday reported that Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was uncomfortable with the decision taken last September to initiate parallel visits of the two negotiators to Athens and Ankara, but had agreed not to become an obstacle to Anastasiades’ aim to open direct lines of communication with Ankara.

It remains to be seen how often visits to Athens and Ankara will take place, and whether they will always be simultaneous. The two negotiators are also likely to visit other capitals, such as London and possibly Washington, as part of the peace process.

Mavroyiannis was accompanied yesterday by lawyer Polys Polyviou and head of his office Polly Ioannou.

Ozersay took with him political affairs head at the Turkish Cypriot ‘foreign ministry’ Gunes Onar and Gulfem Veziroglu Svikili.

 2. No more money for IPC

Turkey will stop sending money to the Immovable Property Commission in the north in order to compenste Greek Cypriots for their properties, SigmaLive reported yesterday.

Citing reliable sources, it says that Turkey sent a message to this effect to the Committee adding that if it wanted to continue satisfying the pending applications, it would have to find the resources itself.

SigmaLive says that since 2005 up until 7 February, 5,600 applications have been submitted overall, with 485 reaching a friendly settlement, and 12 going to court. Overall 149.5 m pounds sterling have been paid out for over 10,000 donums of land.

Ozersay carrying "briefcase of surprises" to Athens

The chief negotiators for the two sides hold separate senior-level meetings in Athens and Ankara on Thursday as part of a new facet to the latest round of Cyprus talks.

Greek Cypriot negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis will be in Ankara and Turkish Cypriot negotiator Kudret Ozersay will be in Athens.

In an interview with Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, published on Wednesday, Turkish Cypriot negotiator Kudret Ozersay said he was carrying a briefcase “full of surprises” with him.

Saying he knew the Greek Cypriot side would be bringing up the issues of the fenced off ghost town of Varosha, Turkish troops, settlers and guarantees during Mavroyiannis’ Ankara visit, Ozersay said the Turkish Cypriot side too had made its preparations.

“The Greeks will learn about the files that my briefcase has inside when I arrive in Athens. It is a briefcase full of surprises,” he said.

Ozersay said it would be the first time in 55 years that a Turkish Cypriot negotiator would be in Athens. The last one who visited Greece was the late Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash in 1959. Archbishop Makarios was the last Greek Cypriot leader to visit Ankara in 1962.

Ozersay is set to meet the General Secretary of the Greek Foreign Ministry, Anastassis Mitsialis, while Greek Cypriot negotiator Andreas Marvoyiannis will meet with the Undersecretary of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Feridun Sinirlioglu. 
Asked whether he thought there might be more such meetings, Ozersay said it depended on the outcome of today’s meetings, but it was very important in the future  that the visits took place on the same level, he said.

2. DIKO votes to go

DIKO voted to leave the government coalition last night over disagreements with President Anastasiades concerning the terms for the resumption of talks on the Cyprus problem.

Its central committee voted by 97 to 81 to uphold the recommendation of the party’s executive office to abandon the coalition due to its disagreement with a joint declaration agreed between Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, which paved the way for substantive talks to reunify the island.

Observers suggested that the departure was not necessarily bad news for Anastasiades who could now push on with the UN-sponsored talks with the main opposition AKEL’s backing and can still count on DIKO for support in economy-related matters, such as the passage of the privatisation bill in parliament later on Thursday.

3.

An editorial in the Cyprus Mail says it is difficult to know the reasons behind President Anastasiades’ weekend revelation that the removal of the Turkish guarantee “could be achieved through the accession of Cyprus to the Partnership for Peace and subsequently to NATO.” No matter how hard we try we cannot think of one good reason for the president’s decision to share this idea with the public at such an early time in the talks, the paper says.

There are plenty of good reasons why he should have kept this idea out of the public domain. First, he is raising public expectations and if the Turkish side rejects his proposal he will appear to have failed. Second, opponents of a settlement on the Turkish side could use this to rally opposition to the talks and play up fears of an agreement in the north. Turkey’s guarantee could be a red line for the Turkish Cypriots like so many issues are for the Greek Cypriots, all of which should be resolved at the talks and not in public.

The president’s proposal has already sparked a knee-jerk reaction among Greek Cypriots, with AKEL threatening to reject any settlement guaranteed by NATO. Its mouthpiece claimed that the president wanted to replace Turkey with ‘another wolf’. Cyprus had ‘suffered’ at the hands of NATO and it was wrong of Anastasiades to pursue ‘DISY’s dogmatic position’ on membership of the Alliance (whereas AKEL’s irrational hostility to NATO was not dogmatic). The party accused him of destroying unity and urged him to withdraw his ‘unacceptable proposal.’

The naysayers also used the proposal as an excuse to attack Anastasiades. EDEK did not want any guarantees and certainly not from NATO. The Citizens’ Alliance, which adopts a negative line on everything related to the talks, predictably expressed dissatisfaction with the proposal. There have even been articles in the papers slamming the idea on the grounds that NATO cannot be trusted.

While the president’s proposal was constructive – a sensible alternative to the existence of guarantor powers – it was a mistake to make it public. Hopefully he will learn from this and avoid public discussion of his ideas before they are even discussed, let alone agreed, at negotiations. There is no reason to give excuses to the naysayers, on both sides of the Green Line, to poison the climate, which is their only objective.

It serves no purpose to have public negotiations among ourselves. There are issues that are better left unsaid until they are agreed and this must become the president’s guiding principle, the paper concludes.

4. Religious leaders support talks

Archbishop Chrysostomos, the Turkish Cypriot Mufti, Dr Talip Atalay, and other religious leaders of the island have all expressed their support for the talks to reunite the island stressing that there is no other option to cooperation, communication and coexistence.

The religious leaders were brought together over a meal in their honour at the home of the Swedish ambassador where they agreed on a joint communique.

Archbishop Chrysostomos said that the religious leaders are coexisting on the island and that there is love and mutual understanding among them.

Mufti Dr Talip Atalay said that the religious leader are sending a message of peace and that they speak a different language from that of the politicians.

DIKO votes to go

Government coalition partner DIKO on Friday voted to abandon the ruling alliance, citing disagreement with the terms for the resumption of negotiations on the Cyprus issue, and accusing President Nicos Anastasiades of violating his pre-election pledges that helped secure the party’s support, the Cyprus Mail reports.

The decision calls for the resignation of DIKO’s four ministers and three heads of semi-governmental organisations by March 4, but will be brought before the party’s Central Committee on Wednesday for final approval.

Reports suggested that ministers were given until March 4 to resign so that they can collect the bonus they are entitled to when they complete one year in office, which falls on March 1. The reports sparked outrage, with people calling on Anastasiades to reshuffle his cabinet immediately.

According to the Cyprus Mail, none of the four want to leave the cabinet and on Friday had voted in favour of staying in the coalition. The paper adds that at least one, Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis, would step down immediately if the decision is endorsed on Wednesday. Lakkotrypis, who is seen as an extremely competent and popular minister, tweeted that “having experienced last night’s [Friday’s] events, my options are now clear”.

The other ministers were silent yesterday on the bonus issue, neither denying nor confirming they would follow the energy minster’s example and resign immediately. But it was reported that during Friday’s eight-hour marathon they had accused the executive, and DIKO leader Nicolas Papadopoulos, of making them a target of public ridicule by suggesting the date in question. Health Minister, Petros Petrides, talking on Astra Radio, spoke of “this public humiliation”, which had made them all out to be money-hungry. He accused Papadopoulos of trying to pass a motion during the meeting that would forbid the four ministers from voting on whether DIKO should remain in the coalition. DIKO spokeswoman Christiana Erotokritou had refused to comment on the accusations, the radio station reported.

Addressing DIKO’s body’s members, Papadopoulos unleashed an all-out attack on Anastasiades and listed the reasons why he considered the agreement for the resumption of talks unacceptable. He then moved that DIKO exit the government coalition and its four ministers tender their resignations. Speeches by members, some supporting the proposal and others voicing dissent, were followed by prolonged discussion, before Papadopoulos’s motion passed with 22 votes in favour, 15 against and 2 abstentions.

According to Papadopoulos’s interpretation, the joint statement dissolves the Republic of Cyprus and implies the ‘virgin birth’ of a new state, concedes separate sovereignty to Turkish Cypriots, reintroduces the concept of dual citizenship, violates Anastasiades’s campaign-trail commitment that the basis for the resumption of talks must be “clearly defined”, and revives the philosophy pervading the Annan Plan. “Unfortunately, after this agreement, negotiations are starting  from a very poor base which will  lead with mathematical precision to a very bad solution.,” the party’s statement said.

Earlier in the day, Papadopoulos had met with former DIKO leader Marios Garoyian, who cited political stability, national unity, and party interest as arguments in favour of DIKO remaining in the ruling coalition, but only after Anastasiades committed to his interpretation of the joint communiqué as a benchmark for the resumed talks. Garoyian’s conciliatory suggestion was promptly met with outright rejection by an unbending Papadopoulos.

Garoyian also addressed the Executive Office, arguing that DIKO must remain close to the President so that it can shape developments. He denied that the pre-election deal he made with Anastasiades had been violated and subtly assigned self-interest to Papadopoulos’s manoeuvring.

“I feel that we must all set our personal strategies aside and restrain our personal ambitions”, he said, adding that “these cannot be acceptable when they clash with national priorities.”

DIKO’s deputy head Marcos Kyprianou also seems to be of the opinion that the party shouldn’t act hastily in withdrawing. Reports say that in his speech before the executive, Kyprianou called for a meeting with Anastasiades to discuss his intentions on the Cyprus problem.

Also, it is clear that since the second phase of the DIKO elections, Papadopoulos’ control over the central committee is far from tight. An overthrow of his proposal on Wednesday would be a major defeat for the new party president and call his leadership into serious doubt.

2. Good riddance

The Cyprus Mail in its editorial welcomes DIKO’s decision to leave the government, as “the best gift President Anastasiades could have received” on the completion of his first year in office. He has been set free from the shackles of an alliance partner that has always championed the politics of negativity and hollow rhetoric, disguised as high principles and patriotism, the paper says.

Anastasiades is now free to focus on the pursuit of a Cyprus settlement, without pandering to the DIKO leadership and wasting his time on finding ways of keeping it on side. He will no longer have to tread carefully for fear of angering Nicolas Papadopoulos whose only objective on the Cyprus problem is maintaining the status quo.

Papadopoulos’ most meaningful proposal to Anastasiades, before the agreement on the joint declaration, was that he should engage in talks that led nowhere. He wanted talks for the sake of talks, like those conducted during the presidency of his father, when the negotiators of the two sides had more than 100 meetings without agreeing anything. The DIKO chief wanted the president to deceive the Greek Cypriots, the UN, the EU, the US and the Turkish side by engaging in talks he would have no intention of ever concluding.

Now, the paper continues, Anastasiades does not even have to pretend to be interested in these absurd suggestions. He will also have finally realised that his oft-repeated plan for collective decision-making on the Cyprus problem by the National Council is totally unrealistic. This could never have happened with parties like DIKO and EDEK whose only reason for existing is to utter hard-line platitudes and oppose any attempt to solve the Cyprus problem.

The question that Anastasiades should ask is how many people do the naysayers actually represent? They do make a lot of noise because there is quite a few of them but that in no way means they reflect majority opinion. Electorally speaking, the hard-line parties do not represent more than a third of the voters, assuming all their supporters were opposed to a settlement, which, as the split in DIKO’s executive office shows, is not guaranteed.

Papadopoulos may have acted rashly in taking DIKO out of the government, but it was the right thing to do. His party could not have remained the junior partner of an alliance that was sincerely committed to a settlement. Now it can step up its anti-settlement rhetoric, carry on calling Anastasiades a liar and arguing in favour of partition, which is what opposition to the peace process means.

As for Anastasiades, he should allow DIKO and the rest of the hard-liners to continue their negative rhetoric, because it exposes their political bankruptcy. The fact is that they have nothing constructive or pragmatic to offer as an alternative to negotiations and an increasing number of people are becoming aware of this. All the alternatives – from the unyielding struggle to the European solution via the ECHR – to the peace process proposed by the rejectionist camp have been exposed as the fantasies they were.

There are no more false hopes to offer an increasingly sceptical public. The only road ahead is the one leading to a settlement and with DIKO quitting the government there will be nothing holding Anastasiades back, the paper concludes.

3. We are at a crucial point where we must understand each other

Turkish Cypriot negotiator Kudret Ozersay in an interview in Politis today said the only reason he became involved in the talks now was that he doesn’t want anyone in the future, Greek or Turkish Cypriot, to have to go through what he went through in his life.

He said he values openness and being frank with the people and prefers to share as much information as he possibly can with the people. “It’s easy to be a populist and stoke the people’s fears rather than preparing them for a solution.”

“Someone told me the other day,” he added “we don’t want to be displaced again. I understand his concern because I too am displaced. But I told him that the solution will not just reflect our own concerns. There are others on this island who have also been affected. I am one of them. I was displaced when I was six months old, I lost my father, I lost my property. So I can understand the concerns of a Greek Cypriot. We are at a crucial point where we have to understand each other.”

He says that as long as the two communities believe that the status quo is a viable option and that it suits us, we will never be able to come to a solution.

“This situation doesn’t lead anywhere,” he said adding that he wasn’t sure to what extent the Greek Cypriots had changed since 2004. In view of the fact that the government is considered legal by the international community, they can exploit the island’s natural resources and since it can become a member of the EU, why should it want to change the status quo? 

He said he felt things were different this time because there were two right wing leaders who might be better able to persuade their communities to accept a solution, while at the same time there was also an increased interest on behalf of the international community that might encourage the two sides to reach an agreement.

As regards the joint statement, he said it seems there are different interpretations of it, however, we must not get stuck on a one and a half page document, we must go forwards.

“The joint statement has given a new momentum to the process which we must take advantage of,” he added.

He said that a solution would bring many benefits to the Turkish Cypriot community whose institutions are not recognised internationally. At best there might in the future be a situation whereby they are accepted internationally but not recognised, so the Turkish Cypriots are being excluded from international law something that is very sad to see happening in the 21^st century as it is important for a society to follow international norms and to be controlled by the international community.

“The emphasis on bizonality is often misconstrued by the Greek Cypriots who believe that this is something that Turkey wants,” he said. “In actual fact it relates to the concerns of the Turkish Cypriots for their own security. Someone may agree or disagree with this concern, but that’s how they feel, and this must be understood, in the same way that I understand the concerns of the Greek Cypriot community about Turkey. Things happened in ’63 and ’74 that cannot change, but we must face the fears that were created.”

Asked to comment on a statement by the Kyrenia mayor-in-exile, Glavcos Kariolou that he would live in Kyrenia under Turkish Cypriot administration and if he would, for example, take up an academic post in a university in the Greek Cypriot side, Mr Ozersay said that the right to work on either side will be respected, but there might be some restrictions as regards permanent settlement.

He said the main issue at the moment was whether the Greek Cypriot side accepts the document on convergences or whether we should start from scratch.

“I will negotiate differently if they accept them and differently if the Greek Cypriot side wants to make changes, because then I will ask for other things in exchange too,” he stressed. “They might want to put down a tougher proposal on the table, but if they are more flexible then I might make concessions elsewhere.”

“We’ve had a failed state, a marriage in which we lived in the same house for three years and which then failed. We can’t say we got properly divorced, rather we’ve been living apart. We live elsewhere and you’ve taken over the house. What’s interesting though, is that we have a large family of relatives who want very much to bring us together again. This time, they believe, the marriage may work,” he said.

“In order for us to create a new federation we must take the fear and pain of the past into account on both sides,” he added. “And at least from the part of the Turkish Cypriots we cannot have the same relationship again. It’s got to be different.”

As there is no history of power sharing at the moment, we will have to create it on paper first and then try to develop it. “It will be very hard work. It isn’t going to be easy. But it’s worth a try.”

Concluding he said that the emphasis must be on respecting the identity of each citizen. “In the 21^st century this identity is not something that you can describe, it’s what you feel. That’s why it’s important that we aim at establishing objective criteria, such as citizenship, internal citizenship, residency.”

Anastasiades calls for unity

President Nicos Anastasiades appealed to Greek Cypriot political forces for unity, the Cyprus Mail reports. “We need the strength of unity to overcome the problems that will be raised through the Turkish or Turkish Cypriot demands at the negotiating table,” he said.

“I want to assure you that we will engage in the struggle to see our homeland free again, we will engage in the struggle to see human rights restored, we will engage in the struggle for the basic freedoms that will safeguard all our citizens and make sure that all citizens will enjoy the same things the rest of the European citizens are enjoying,” he said.

“If the 28 (member-states) of the European Union, with 28 different nationalities or origins, manage to cooperate, to build together and to create prospects, I wonder why two communities that lived peacefully together for years cannot manage to do the same, with mutual respect for each other’s ethnic origin. Ethnic origin was not and must not be the problem. It is human rights that must bring us close together by safeguarding them.”

2. The view from the Turkish side

The Cyprus Mail reporting from the Turkish side yesterday said Turkish Cypriot leader, Dervis Eroglu has claimed that the return of Varosha was not on the agenda, and that Turkey as a guarantor power said it was a red line for the Turkish Cypriots.

“There is not yet any issue on our agenda such as handing over Maras (Varosha). When negotiations come to a stage of ‘give-and-take,’ we will surely discuss everything and we will discuss it with the people,” Eroglu said.

Turkish Cypriot foreign minister Ozdil Nami was quoted yesterday as telling  the European Union Socialist Group meeting in Brussels that he believed the  historic nature of the joint statement paved the way for rapid progress at the negotiating table by addressing some of the critical issues related to governance and power sharing in a federal Cyprus.

“Today on both sides of the island there is a sense of increased optimism due to this long awaited progress. There is also a sense of confidence that this time we will be able to resolve the issue,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Turkish ambassador to Athens Kerim Uras, in an interview with Anadolou news agency said the start of talks was the result of a long-term plan by Ankara. “The key to solving the Cyprus problem is natural resources and the key to the candidacy of Turkey to the EU is the solution of the Cyprus problem,” he said. Uras said that Greek Cypriots who lost their property in the north would be  compensated through profits from the exploitation of the island’s natural gas reserves.

3. Erdogan and Obama discuss Cyprus

US President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Tayip Erdogan discussed the Cyprus problem, among other issues, on Wednesday over the phone.

According to a press release issued by the White House, “the President thanked the Prime Minister for his constructive role in the effort on Cyprus to renew negotiations for a settlement”.

The two leaders also discussed a range of bilateral and regional issues, The Cyprus News Agency (CNA) reported last night that US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Eric Rubin is planning a visit to the island sometime in March.

A report from Washington said Rubin would be meeting with officials from both communities, picking up the baton from Victoria Nuland, the US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, who was here earlier this month.

The same sources told the CNA that for the time being there were no plans for a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

4. Hundreds of Greek Cypriots swarm to Talat ignoring extremists

Former Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, was the main speaker at a meeting in Paphos on Wednesday on “The Benefits of a Reunited Cyprus” organised by a group called “Initiative for the Reunification of Cyprus”  at the Neapolis University.

Reports from people who attended the meeting and wrote about it on Facebook said that over 300 people attended, many more than could fit into the small auditorium, so that the organisers had to set up screens and broadcast the event in nearby halls.

Meanwhile, a group of about 15 people, assumed to be from the extremist organisation ELAM, gathered outside the building holding banners and shouting swearwords against the participants. However, no one paid any attention to them until in the end they just left before the meeting ended.

Throughout the meeting, the reports said, Mr Talat was calm, humble and careful in his responses giving a very good impression.

Likewise the auditorium was serious, calm and with a few exceptions, of a high calibre. A large number of Kyrenia refugees was also present including the Kyrenia mayor-in-exile, Glavcos Kariolou.

“What was most important was that so many people came from the whole gamut of Greek Cypriots in order to listen to a Turkish Cypriot politician,” said another post on Facebook. “They came determined, eager to listen to someone from the other side. It seemed they needed to hear something hopeful from the other side.”

“It seems they no longer view the Turkish Cypriots as Ankara’s puppets, as they used to, but as serious players in the Cyprus problem,” he said. “Even the toughest questions they posed Talat were at heart, defensive,” the writer concludes.

5. Top lawyers say we must give the process a chance

Lawyer Polys Polyviou was grilled on Radio Proto yesterday morning by a journalist from the 2004 ‘no camp’. When quizzed over whether he was concerned about the negotiations going forward based on the controversial joint declaration that has the naysayers in a twist, he held his ground, the Cyprus Mail reports.

“We should not just be concerned about what might happen, we should be just as concerned about what might not happen. If we continue to do nothing it will be a catastrophe,” he said.

Meanwhile another top lawyer, Costas Velaris, appeared on an afternoon chat show on CyBC during which he accused the politicians of the NO camp of not wanting a solution because keeping the Cyprus problem alive kept them in their job. He made a passionate plea to ordinary Cypriots to make their feelings felt at the ballot box, causing a large number to phone in to express their agreement.  

6. Nicholakis plays politics

Columnis Giorgos Kaskanis writing in Politis refers to the letter that DIKO leader Nicholas Papadopoulos wrote in reply to President Anastasiades on the joint statement and says that its tone and argumentation reminds him of a character in a children’s book on the various exploits of Nicholakis. Nicholakis does this, Nicholakis does that, Nicholakis plays politics.

For example, he says, Nicholakis was furious at the fact that the document in saying that the status quo was unacceptable did not spell out what it entailed i.e. the presence of Turkish troops, the violation of human rights, the settlers etc. However, the little boy had no problem when his father signed exactly the same things in the 8^th July Agreement.

Next although he was pleased to see that there were no timeframes, he was disappointed these were not specifically forbidden as the Turkish side might raise them.

He also liked that arbitration was excluded, but he was concerned that the statement was a form of arbitration brought about by the Americans. He evidently, confuses the arbitration his father agreed to (in the Annan plan) with mediation.

Even more surprising was his attention to grammar. The statement, he says, specifies that union, secession or partition “is prohibited”, whereas it should have been in the future tense “shall or will be prohibited” all of which takes us back to the 1960 Treaty of Guarantees. Except that he didn’t read the statement properly as the whole thing is in the future tense.

Nicholakis was also insensed because Anastasiades fooled him that the “the Federal constitution shall be the supreme law of the land” whereas, in his view it should have said that “the supreme law of the land shall be the federal constitution”.

Am I wrong to say he reminds me of a children’s book character?

Polyviou and Markides join the team

Well known lawyer and constitutional expert Polis Polyviou has been appointed as an advisor on the Greek Cypriot side’s negotiating team, Phileleftheros reports.

He will take part in today’s meeting between negotiators Andreas Mavroyiannis and Kudret Ozersay and will be sitting in on the talks.

In addition former Attorney General Aleckos Markides will from now on also become involved and will speak directly with President Anastasiades and the legal team.

The paper says that according to sources, this has been deemed necessary as talks go deeper into details.

Today’s meeting is expected to deal with procedural issues that were raised at the first meeting.

2. Rights of Turkish settlers will be protected

Turkish Cypriot prime minister, Ozkan Yorgancioglu, has promised Turkish settlers that they will do whatever they can in order for them to be given citizenship in a future federal Cyprus, Turkish Cypriot daily Afrika reports.

The paper writes that the Turkish settlers are feeling uncertain as to what will become of them, as no one has explained to them in the event of a solution.

“We are all included in the definition ‘Turkish Cypriot people’. Everybody who lives in the country and is a citizen, not an old or new citizen, and sees his future here is included in this. Our target should be an agreement in which our interests will be protected,” Yorgancioglu told a delegation from the association of the Turkish war veterans. “It is our duty to protect the rights of the people who have lived here for 40-45 years, who were born here,”

3. A portrait of Turkish Cypriot negotiator Kudret Ozersay

Kudret Ozersay is not your typical technocrat/negotiator, says Sotos Ktoris in an online portrait of the man appointed as Turkish Cypriot negotiator.

He also has political ambitions and is one of the most important figures in the new generation of Turkish Cypriot politicians, an obvious choice for the position of negotiator. The forty-year old academic is considered a moderate political figure, is widely respected internationally, and above all, is “mainstream” in his opinions on the Cyprus problem. His doctoral thesis at the University of Ankara focused on the legal validity of the 1960 agreement. He has also authored a series of academic texts on various aspects of the Cyprus issue, such as the property issue, bizonality, security, and guarantees. His standing as an academic and technocrat, as well as his political acumen, have made him an excellent connoisseur, and adroit handler of the legal, political and historical dimensions of the Cyprus issue.

His positions on the Cyprus problem reflect the overall consensus of opinion of the vast majority of Turkish Cypriots, which can be summarised as wanting to change the divisive status quo in such a way so as to safeguard and secure the ethnicity of the Turkish Cypriots within a loose, bizonal, bi-communal federation. Ensuring the 'maximum' bizonality has, for Ozersay, been the cornerstone of Turkish Cypriot aspirations, as the only thing that can guarantee the security of the Turkish Cypriots against the prospect of being overrun by the Greek Cypriots with their greater numbers and financial clout. The Turkish Cypriot insistence on a 'strong' bizonality is rooted precisely in this belief, and the painful experience of the 1963-1974 period.

He believes that the experiences of the two communities in the recent past is at the heart of their different interpretations with the fundamental principle of bizonality on the one hand and respect for human rights on the other. He believes these two principles are what further exacerbate a settlement of the property issue which with the passage of time has turned into a "huge technical and legal conundrum”.

Ozersay is critical of the stand of certain Turkish Cypriot political forces in favour of 'clean' bi-zonality, as well as their view that the Third Vienna Agreement definitively resolved the property issue. At the same time, he considers the Greek Cypriot claim for unrestricted recovery of the property they owned before 1974 as a distinct threat to the Turkish Cypriot community.

Ozersay derives his political strength directly from the Turkish Foreign Ministry, which views him as their most reliable interlocutor in Cyprus. Together with Ozdil Nami at the Turkish Cypriot foreign ministry, who maintains excellent relations with Ahmet Davutoglu and his party, they form a new cadre within the Turkish Cypriot community which is directly accountable to Turkey, further limiting the influence Dervis Eroglu has in the negotiating process. Appointing Ozersay as negotiator reflects the Turkish government’s intention to " finish" the Cyprus problem, either through a negotiated settlement, or by upgrading the "TRNC ". By replacing the inflexible nationalist Osman Ertug, allows Ankara to manage the negotiations with greater flexibly and without the threat of internal reactions, in order to either reach a solution or put the blame for a deadlock on the Greek Cypriot side.

As the academic Niazi Kizilyurek says, this time the Cyprus plane will land either at the airport of the solution or that of partition. The coming negotiations with Ozersay will be difficult, particularly on issues considered vital for the Turkish Cypriots (bizonality, guarantees). However, it is encouraging that the talks will be conducted with someone who, despite his own father having been killed by Greek Cypriots in 1974 in the village of Alaminos and whose remains were identified in 2007, nevertheless never attached himself to the partitionist and nationalist rhetoric of the Turkish Cypriot right. 

Reunification will help Turkey’s energy needs

Αn agreement reunifying the island would help ease Turkey’s energy needs, President Nicos Anastasiades said in an interview with Associated Press.

He said a deal would allow Turkey to be supplied with newly found Cypriot and Israeli natural gas and contribute to improving relations between Ankara and Tel Aviv, the Cyprus Mail reports.

Anastasiades told AP the United States was instrumental in the resumption of stalled negotiations with the breakaway regime. He added that the growing interest in an accord is grounded in the potential for regional energy cooperation and helping to diminish instability in a turbulent region.

The president said Israel could also export its offshore gas to Turkey through a reunified Cyprus and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may visit Cyprus in the spring.

US Secretary of State John Kerry may also be coming here around March, according to local media reports. Citing their sources, daily Politis and Phileleftheros said the chief US diplomat has taken a personal interest in the Cyprus issue. Kerry is reportedly being kept abreast of developments by US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland – who was on the island earlier this month – and by US Ambassador in Nicosia John Koenig.

The rumoured American role in nudging ahead a new peace drive has been tied to a broader US policy of encouraging a thawing of Turkish-Israeli relations. Israel is currently mulling how and where to export its excess natural gas reserves, with Cyprus and Turkey both being possible destinations.

Whereas the Greek Cypriot leadership has been talking up the document as a success, having secured in it the so-called three singles – sovereignty, citizenship and personality – a different narrative has emerged north of the dividing line.

2. Eroglu: A deal that puts us at the mercy of the Greek Cypriots is not a deal

In an interview with Hurriyet, Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu indicated that the joint communiqué was not to his liking, but that he would engage in talks regardless.

The document contained ‘theoretical’ points, which the Turkish Cypriot side would negotiate to render more specific, said Eroglu.

“Contrary to the Greek Cypriots, we regard the text as a tool for commencing negotiations. I cannot say that I liked the text one hundred per cent…the desires of the Greek Cypriots as well as our own had to be registered on that paper,” he was quoted as saying.

Eroglu warned that he would refuse to sign a deal which the international community might foist on Turkish Cypriots for the sake of wrapping up the decades-long conflict.

“If they force me to sign and we find ourselves at the mercy of the Greek Cypriots, to me that is not an agreement,” Eroglu said.

He challenged also the notion of a single sovereignty, as provided for in the joint declaration, saying: “All states are sovereign. No constitution of any nation-state speaks of a single sovereignty. But the Greek Cypriots insisted on this. Therefore each [constituent] state is sovereign.”

3. Referenda will be held only if we can get a ‘yes’

Speaking to Hurriyet, Turkish Cypriot foreign minister Ozdil Nami said the joint statement provides for two constituent states that will exercise any powers that are not delegated to the central, federal government.

The two constituent states would maintain powers and jurisdictions in some areas – such as education – but not in others, such as defence and foreign affairs.

“Just as Obama cannot abolish the death penalty in Texas, here too it will be similar,” he explained.

Nami also expressed the opinion that a peace plan would go to separate referenda only if opinion polls conducted previously indicated that the chances for acceptance are solid.

“You should know that, if we do go to referenda, a ‘yes’ will emerge,” he added.

Explaining US involvement in the latest talks initiative, Nami said the Americans neither pressured the sides nor imposed anything on them. The US government engaged once a vacuum was created following the discrediting by the Greek Cypriots of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser Alexander Downer.

However, Nami ruled out the opening of the fenced-off city of Famagusta as part of confidence-building measures. Instead, Varosha would be part of the peace negotiations themselves.

The Turkish Cypriot side would not give up its ace in the hole just so that Greek Cypriots could be prodded into accepting a peace plan, he said.

4. Government Spokesman welcomes Barroso statement

Deputy government spokesman Viktoras Papadopoulos hailed remarks by the president of the European Commission, José Barroso, who supported keeping Varosha and the talks process separate.

Barroso’s comments indicated that the President’s lobbying of the EU was paying dividends, he said.

Barroso went on to urge political parties in Cyprus to get behind the President in the peace process, a remark that did not sit well with the parties, the Cyprus Mail reports.

AKEL does not need Barroso to advise it on how to behave on the Cyprus issue, party leader Andros Kyprianou said. Giorgos Lillikas, head of the Citizens Alliance, accused Barroso of meddling in domestic Cypriot affairs. And EDEK leader Yiannakis Omirou said the EU official’s remarks were reminiscent of foreign interference in 2004, when a UN peace plan was put to the people.

5. Archbishop miffed

AKEL’s secretary general Andros Kyprianou launched a scathing attack on Archbishop Chrysostomos on Monday by questioning the primate’s sudden support for the start of negotiations of the Cyprus problem.

Speaking on CyBC, Kyprianou said that the archbishop’s stance was hypocritical.

“Until the other day the archbishop was of a different opinion but today he has changed his stance and then he announced a deal for the solar park to be built on church land,” Kyprianou said, implying that the archbishop had been bought off.

Kyprianou questioned whether deals of that nature were what determined the archbishop’s political position.

He nevertheless hailed the church leader’s U-turn on the Cyprus problem and hoped that his positive stance remained permanent.

Asked to comment on Kyprianou’s remarks the archbishop said that Kyprianou was being unfair.

“AKEL’s secretary general is being grossly unfair if he believes we would negotiate the terms of the Cyprus problem for a handful of pennies,” he said. “I don’t know if he would do it, but we wouldn’t.”

The archbishop also rejected Kyprianou’s claims that he had changed his position on the Cyprus problem.

He said he decided to support the president’s efforts after being informed of the contents of the joint communiqué signed by both leaders last week by constitutional experts.

The archbishop said that he believed that Turkey’s goal was to create a two-state confederation adding that the Greek Cypriot side had made many compromises but was insisting on a correct federation.