‘Not many chances left,’ says Eide

The UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser  Espen Barth Eide warned on Tuesday that not many chances remained to reunify the island but appeared optimistic that talks between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots side would resume, the Cyprus Mail reports.

“I think people have to realize that we cannot go on year after year without any progress, because this problem has remained unresolved for many decades,” Eide told reporters after a meeting with Anastasiades. “At some stage there must be shared will to move on.”

Eide said he felt the will was there but in addition “there must be the right circumstances and if these circumstances occur we must be ready to grasp the opportunity and use it constructively.”

“There will not be many more chances, let me put it that way,” he said.

Eide said there was a growing sense that the circumstances that led to the suspension of talks may soon be over.

“Expectations are that within reasonable time we will be able to get back to a climate where we can not only talk again but maybe even see if those talks can be accelerated.”

The UN official said he felt there was a wish and desire to invest in this, after the crisis in the winter.

“Sometimes crises can help clarify people’s mind and illustrate that there are bigger issues out there that we have to meet together. So, I am significantly more optimistic than last time you saw me.”

A navigational telex, or NAVTEX, issued by Turkey to announce its intention to carry out seismic surveys expires on April 6, a factor that would contribute constructively to the resumption of talks, Eide said.

It was the second NAVTEX issued by Turkey. The first one, issued in October, expired at the end of the year.

“It seems that a window may be created where the mutual reasons for what has happened over winter are not there and if that momentum occurs we will use it. What we are trying to do now is to talk about what we will do if this is possible. Assuming that we are moving into a better space then we will accelerate talks and try to see how far we can get.”

Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu said after his meeting with Eide that he considers it very possible that President Anastasiades will return to the negotiating table soon, even before the upcoming elections in the north, in April.

The Cyprus Mail also reported that Eide left the island on Wednesday and would return when he is ready to announce the resumption of talks, which it is hoped will begin again at the end of April or early May.

Citing sources close to the special envoy, the Cyprus News Agency said Eide hoped to announce a date for the stalled negotiations prior to the elections in the north for a new Turkish Cypriot leader on April 19.

The sources also said there was an agreement in principle from Turkey that it would not renew a navigational telex (NAVTEX) for further explorations in the island’s exclusive economic zone, which expires on April 6.

Negotiations could then resume from the point at which they stopped last October when Turkey issued the first NAVTEX that prompted the Greek Cypriot side to withdraw from the talks.

The sources told CNA that the most difficult issues in the negotiations process would be discussed first this time, however, and not left until last.

Depending on the positions presented by both sides, the United Nations would submit neutral proposals to facilitate convergence between the two sides, the sources said, but they warned it would be difficult for the process to survive yet another interruption.

Eide himself said during a reception at the UN-controlled Nicosia airport yesterday on empowering women, that a resumption of the talks was close.

“We are about to restart the peace talks in earnest. There is will on the top level on both sides,” he added.

“There are serious and deep difficulties on the property issue and on state level issues. However, I have not found a single issue which cannot be resolved.”

Eide urged civil society and ordinary Cypriots on both sides to press their respective leaders to work towards a settlement.

The future of their homeland did not lie just in the hands of their elected leaders, he said, and that people had to encourage and hold their leaders to their promise to deliver a solution.

“The Cyprus problem is not the other side. The problem in Cyprus is the fact that Cyprus is not progressing as it should,” he said, adding that the country as a whole was losing out daily on economic opportunities.

Nami says no new NAVTEX will be issued 


Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris reported that the Turkish Cypriot foreign minister Ozdil Nami said that if the Greek Cypriot side continues to put forward preconditions for the resumption of the Cyprus negotiation talks as it had previously done so, then the talks will remain in suspension.

In statements to the paper, Nami noted that the NAVTEX ends on April 6, adding that the Turkish Cypriot side will not announce a new NAVTEX and will not sent the Barbarros to the region.

Nami stated that it will be very pleasant if Mr Anastasiades would return to the table within this period. He recalled that the Greek Cypriot leader, had put forward some preconditions for returning to the table, and warned that if the talks resume in the next three months and the Greek Cypriot side resumes its oil exploration activities, then they will be forced to give the necessary response.

Nami said there were three alternatives - either the sides proceed together on the hydrocarbon issue, or they continue with their activities separately, or simultaneously stop their work.

Moreover, Turkish Cypriot daily Afrika  reported that Eroglu said that the Barbaros has not left Famagusta as a goodwill gesture from the Turkish Cypriot side in order for the talks to be resumed again. He expressed the wish that the Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades would return to the negotiating table.

Coffeeshop

Was it a coincidence that last Sunday the pseudo foreign minister of the north Ozdil Nami announced that the navtex for Turkey’s seismic research vessel Barbaros, which expires on April 6, would not be renewed, the Cyprus Mail’s satirical column Coffeeshop asks. Was Turkey so keen on the resumption of the talks that it gave in to Nik’s courageous ultimatum?

As we know only too well, the Turks do not make unilateral concessions. In order not to renew the navtex, they were given assurances from someone that we would stop all exploratory drilling, which was reason the Turks were violating our EEZ. We do not know whether the Yanks arranged for the drilling to stop in consultation with Nik or if it was our prez’s initiative.

Was it another coincidence that the nerdy UN envoy Espen Barth Eide arrived this week to prepare the ground for the resumption of the talks? But it was no coincidence that in the same week we also had the theatre involving Noble, whereby special guests flew in all the way from Texas to take part in it. Two Noble Energy vice presidents flew here all the way from Texas to state the obvious – that they will sell the gas.

The prez pulled off quite a clever stunt to deflect attention away from the fact that we had temporarily given up our sovereign right to carry out drilling in our EEZ so he could triumphantly return to the talks claiming that the Turks had given in to his diktat. This non-commercial exploitation of hydrocarbons is one the few things this government does extremely well, Coffeeshop says.