Leaders to meet on 31 March

Leaders to meet on 31 March

The Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders Anastasiades and Eroglu will meet on March 31, it was announced yesterday.

The date for the meeting was agreed between chief negotiators Andreas Mavroyiannis and Kudret Ozersay at their regular meeting earlier in the day, the Cyprus Mail reports.

This will be the second leaders’ meeting since the new round of talks began on February 11.

According to the joint declaration, which sets out the parameters for the negotiations, the leaders would meet “as often as needed”.

Mavroyiannis and Ozersay held substantive discussions on issues connected to different chapters on Tuesday, a statement said. They will meet again on Friday.

2. Nami: Solution a matter of months

The Turkish Cypriot foreign minister Ozdil Nami has said core differences in the Cyprus problem could be resolved in a “matter of months,” putting the divided Mediterranean island’s reunification within reach for the first time in four decades.

Nami who is currently on a visit to the US said in an interview with the Washington Times that Cyprus is at a threshold of tapping potential wealth from natural gas, the future export of which could wean Europe off its dependence on Russian energy.

“Of course, the precondition to achieve that scenario is first reaching a settlement to the Cyprus issue,” Mr. Nami said.

The next step, he said is to deal with property claims, territorial adjustments and security guarantees. While Mr. Nami described such issues as “difficult and challenging,” he confidently predicted that it will now be just “a matter of months, not years, to finish these talks and create a new comprehensive settlement agreement.”

“What is required now,” he added, “is the political determination to reach compromises.”

Mr. Nami estimated that it would take up to 20 years for Greek Cypriots to attain the standards of living to which they were accustomed before the economic collapse.

“In order to make that a shorter time frame, they need a jump,” he said, adding that it “can only be achieved through resolving the Cyprus issue.”

The two sides will undertake a series of confidence-building measures that include greater ties between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot businesses; cooperation on health, the environment, protection of cultural heritage sites and fighting crime; and opening more crossing points.

The Turkish Cypriot side has tried to sweeten the pot by promising to share water and electricity that it hopes to eventually get from Turkey. “This is something which motivates our counterparts for reunification,” Mr. Nami said. “We are actually trying to make a deal much more attractive.”

“Maybe, in our own terms, this is our soft power,” he added.

Mr. Nami stressed that the Obama administration has helped the push toward reunification. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, travelled to Cyprus ahead of the talks, and her visit was “quite instrumental in putting the final dot on the paper,” said Mr. Nami, who will meet in Washington this week with senior State Department officials and members of Congress.

“We need a catalyst to make the Israeli-Turkey-Europe link much stronger, and so when you look at the picture from this perspective all roads lead to the resolution of the Cyprus issue,” Mr. Nami said. “We are almost there. It is the project with minimal risk and greatest return. It has a huge chance of success.”

“The Ukrainian crisis reminded us of the urgent need to diversify the natural gas supply routes,” said Mr. Nami. “The resources around Cyprus are definitely an alternative means to meet the demands in Europe.”

Further, he said, the Turkish Cypriot side hopes future revenue from natural gas sales will provide much-needed money to cover heavy costs associated with reunification.

In addition to serving as an impetus for the ongoing talks, the discovery of natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean has created tensions on Cyprus — as well as between the Greek Cypriot side and the government of Turkey.

There have been concerns on the Turkish side, for instance, that the Greek Cypriot government has been trying to take sole control of the island’s gas reserves.

“Any unilateral steps taken, either by Greek Cypriots or Turkish Cypriots, without cooperating with each other is bound to lead to conflict,” Mr. Nami said.

This is why it is so important to establish a federal government overseeing both sides of the island with the authority to grant licenses and draw revenues from these resources, he said.

Mr. Nami added that the natural gas supply “is going to change the whole atmosphere in the region, create huge interdependence, great benefits, make the Western alliance much stronger in the region.”

“There is a very positive scenario there which is within our grasp,” he said. “All we need is to focus on resolving the Cyprus issue in the coming months and then this will unlock very positive developments.”

3. Nami meetings at US State Department

Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris reports that Ozdil Nami discussed the Cyprus problem at a meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State, William Burns. He told Kibris that the USA is interested in the solution process which has resumed in Cyprus and supports the solution. Nami noted that his contacts were positive and beneficial and that Burns expressed the wish for the negotiations that started in a positive climate with the joint declaration to “be concluded with constructive approaches”.

Nami said that taking steps which will bring the two communities closer to each other would be useful, but had told his interlocutors that these steps should be planned in a manner that will not disrupt the negotiations for finding a solution.

“We have put forward our expectations from the USA and the international community,” and “we drew attention to the importance of the role of the UN.”

4. Ozersay attends PRIO meeting

Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen reports that Turkish Cypriot negotiator Kudret Ozersay, said that he and Greek Cypriot negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis discussed at a Brussels seminar how the different sectors in the economy both in the north and in the south will be affected by a cooperation between the two sides or by a comprehensive solution.

Speaking to Turkish Cypriot news agency “TAK” about the meeting that was hosted by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), Ozersay said that he also had separate meetings with the Ambassadors of Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway to Cyprus. He added that apart from the meeting, he met separately with the German, French and the EU Ambassadors. He also discussed with officials from the British Embassy, Turkey’s Ambassadors to the EU and NATO, as well as with the officials from the EU Commission the Cyprus talks and different issues related to the Cyprus settlement.

Ozersay said that in general terms, during the meetings in Brussels, they discussed issues including derogations from the EU law as well as the EU primary law, adding that he briefed them on the Turkish Cypriot side’s views.