Talks take a break until September

The talks on the Cyprus problem ended yesterday for a break until Septemeber and without a statement by the leaders.

Yesterday’s meeting between the leaders of the two communities in Cyprus, Anastasiades and Eroglu, lasted over four hours, ending because the former had a prior engagement. No statement were issued afterwards, but the two negotiators, Mavroyiannis and Ozersay met later at the UN Special Representative’s house to see if they could hammer out a statement about the talks.

The two men will meet again on 2 September, while the two negotiators will meet on 26 August. 

Kathimerini says that the long break was considered necessary as the possibility for reaching some kind of agreement with Eroglu remain small to non-existent. It says the only hope is that Turkey makes a move after August’s presidential elections, according to indications the Turkish Foreign Ministry has given to the US and EU.

It says the two leaders were unable to agree on even the smallest confidence-building measures, nor issue a statement about the missing. It also proved impossible for Eroglu to agree to the convergences and divergences to be put in writing, as Anastasiades suggested.

The paper says that the atmosphere at the meeting was tense from the start and did not improve as the day wore on. Towards lunch things heated up to such an extent that they had to take a break to calm down. In the end they couldn’t even issue a statement.

Eventually the UN issued a laconic statement later on, in which no reference was made as to the substance of what had been discussed. All it said was that the leaders had agreed that both sides completed the submission of proposals on all issues related to the Cyprus problem and exchanged views on confidence building measures and on methodology. It concludes by saying that they had instructed their negotiators to continue discussions with the view to reaching an agreement on these issues in advance of the next meeting of the leaders which has been scheduled for 2 September 2014.

Kathimerini adds that it was true that the sides had submitted proposals on all the aspects of the problem, including territory, security and guarantees, something which the Turkish side had always refused to do before an international conference. The Greek side submitted 17 documents, while the Turkish side 14 or 15, according to a source. A diplomatic source told the paper that from a brief look at what the two sides had submitted, convergence could be achieved on 70-80% of the proposals.

However, Eroglu steadfastly refused to allow any convergences to be put down in writing, rejecting all compromises. He implied that he objects to any reference to the role that the EU would play, even though it’s contained in the joint statement. The UN Special Representative had to step in at this point to remind him that the joint statement binds all the parties, including the UN. It was at this point that they had to take a break to calm down. 

The Greek Cypriot side is not prepared to go to the third phase of talks which is the give and take phase, as Eroglu insists, unless there is a document recording the convergences on which this give and take can be based.

The methodology on which to continue was not the only stumbling block. Anastasiades agreed that another passage be opened at Lefka, but Eroglu would not discuss that the same be done in Athienou. They couldn’t even agree on a statement regarding the missing persons, after their visit to the missing person’s laboratory. Anastasiades proposed they continue negotiating over the next few days in the hope that agreement will be reached at another meeting of leaders at the end of the month, but Eroglu rejected this as well, saying that 31 July was Bayram and August is a period of summer holidays.

Taking all this into account, the paper concludes that the talks are on the verge of breaking down. The Greek side harbours the slimmest of hopes that Turkey will make a move on the Cyprus problem in September, as they are hinting to the Americans and Europeans they will do, a few weeks after the presidential elections there, which Erdogan is expecting to win.

2. We don’t want a solution, dammit

It’s time we admitted it, says George Kaskanis writing in his column in Politis, we DON’T want a solution to the Cyprus problem. We prefer living in a state that’s divided but that at least has all its executive powers intact. Yes, we are our own bosses, so what if it’s just in a little neighbourhood.

This is the only explanation, he says, for the furore that has broken out over the issue of including teaching about federations in schools. It seems we don’t want to discuss anything regarding what we may be asked to implement, if we ever get to that, which supposedly the majority of political parties say they support.

It’s total madness.  Teaching our youth about federal systems that exist in other countries so that they can make up their own minds about ideas and proposals that are being discussed for us, never crossed their minds. They didn’t even think that this could strengthen their ability to see whether the various proposals being submitted foresee a workable federal system or not. They just said NO again, as they always do, without a second thought. Just to prove yet again that all they want is their own survival. But we must also acknowledge that we have a responsibility for all this nonsense because we continue to accept it, to listen to it, despite all that we have gone through.

We need to be a little more honest with ourselves. We need to admit that we have already chosen “the next best solution”, as Tasos Papadopoulos used to say. In other words the situation we have today. So that all those romantics stop believing that we are capable of building a state of peaceful coexistence, where we will use our brains towards achieving progress rather than the rubbish we have been recycling for fifty years now.

We don’t want a solution, sior!

3. Another barbaric invasion

Economics teacher, George Koumoullis, writing in Politis, says that the media keep on using the adjective ‘barbaric’ whenever they talk about the Turkish invasion. They’ve been overdoing it, these days, it being its fortieth anniversary. But the truth is, all wars are barbaric, after all you never hear of a velvet invasion.

However, we are guilty of another barbararic invasion in Cyprus which we have tried to cover up and are still doing so. I’m talking of an invasion in the broad sense of the word, as in an invasion into the Turkish area in the Famagusta district, which was made up of the villages of Salandari, Maratha and Aloa. Perhaps some would prefer the word incursion, rather than invasion, but the essence is the same.

The majority of the Cypriot population does not know about the crimes that were committed in these three villages in August 1974. Very briefly, “unknown Greek Cypriot fighters” invaded the villages, raped young girls and killed 126 women, children and elderly, throwing their bodies into the rubbish.

Unfortunately all our governments to date have been concerned with collecting as many votes as they could so refused to carry out any investigations into this hideous crime. I hasten to add that there are also Turkish Cypriots who are equally guilty of barbaric crimes against us, but that doesn’t excuse this heinous crime one bit.

Two issues arise. First, is the complete inaction of the police. How come the perpetrators are well known to the inhabitants of the surrounding villages, yet ‘unknown’ to the police? Who can believe the police’s excuse that there is no incriminating evidence for any of the 126 murders?

Of course, one can argue that those were chaotic days and the law could not be implemented. But how come in the 40 years that ensued no criminal procedure was enacted? That too much time has passed is not an excuse. In Europe they are still chasing World War II criminals. Now that the Republic of Cyprus has matured, why aren’t the guilty pursued? 

The second issue is a question of our double standards. On the one hand we (correctly) accuse Turkey of war crimes, while on the other we turn a blind eye to our own. Some may argue that this crime was carried out by irregulars so cannot be considered a war crime. But when the state tolerates such crimes, it automatically becomes complicit. No one has gone to jail. No one has been arrested. No one was questioned. Undoubtedly, tolerance equals guilt.

President Anastasiades claims to be president of all Cypriots. He should prove it with actions not just words. He cannot be present at memorials of Greek Cypriots who died in 74 and ignore our murdered Turkish Cypriot compatriots.

Our leadership should in fact apologise to the Turkish Cypriots for the crimes perpetrated in 74 and at the same time the leadership of the Turkish Cypriots should apologise to us. We should set a date when we can all commemmorate all murdered Cypriots. There cannot be a stronger confidence-building measure, one that would expose all the chauvinists on both sides of the divide.