Leaders discuss property

President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervish Eroglu, yesterday discussed the property issue and would continue to do so on Tuesday next week, the United Nations said.

UN special adviser Alexander Downer said data and papers on property exchanged by the two sides in the past were the basis of discussion.

“As for meetings beyond that, we will have more to say about that next week once the leaders have given some thought as to how they would like to proceed from next week on.”

Asked about the report Downer was due to write reviewing progress, he said he could not speculate on its contents.

“This is a report from me to the Secretary-General at the end of March on the way forward,” he told reporters. “Today is late February so in a month or so, I’ll be turning my mind to this challenging task of producing this report. But I don’t know what it will say. I simply can’t speculate on it at this stage.”

History repeats itself, says former minister Nicos Rolandis in an opinion piece published in the Cyprus Mail and Politis. We commit the same mistakes again and again and we pay the bitter price.

In 1922, he says, 2,000 years of Hellenism in Asia Minor came to an end as a result of huge Greek errors. Similarly in 1974 huge errors probably marked the end of the 3000 years of Greek Cypriot presence in north Cyprus.

The Cyprus problem is going enowhere. There is almost no rational voice around. One silly statement follows another. Populism prevails everywhere. Almost everything goes towards party interests, nothing for the country itself. At the end of the day it seems we shall be left with the UN resolutions and the occupation.

We went to Greentree with three ‘Nos’ in our luggage, constituting the apogee of inconsistency and stupidity. There was a ‘No’ to an international conference, which we were seeking with a passion a few years ago. I recall our jubilation in Moscow in October 1982, when we included it in the joint communiqué.

There was a ‘No’ to arbitration, which is included in Article 33 of Chapter 6 of the UN Charter, as an obligation of the member-states for peaceful settlements of disputes. Through this stand of ours we are contravening the provisions of that charter.

And there was a ‘No’ to “asphyxiating timeframes” (asphyxiating, after 38 years!). In other words we are after an open-ended dialogue, which is the perfect recipe for partition and eventual occupation of Cyprus by Turkey. Yet just a few years ago we were pleading for “a solution yesterday” and declaring time and again that “we, the victims of aggression, want a solution as soon as possible”.

Now, he said, the natural gas issue has been added and warns that, lest we think we are at the centre of the universe, we must not forget how dangerous Turkey can be. People forget, he said that Turkey was threatening to invade Cyprus since 1965 and eventually did so in 1974.

Rolandis suggests what he says could be a win-win situation for everyone. He proposes that as regards the Cyprus problem, all parties endorse the Anglo-American-Canadian Plan of November 1978 as nothing much has changed in all these years, though some adjustments will be necessary on issues like properties and the settlers. On the territorial aspect he proposes that the Gobbi map of 1981 be adopted, which had been accepted by the two big DISY and AKEL and the Turkish side was not averse either. As for the natural gas issue he proposes the best solution would be for to it to be sold and pumped to Greece and/or to Europe through Turkey as the most cost effective method.

As a result the Greek Cypriots would solve the national problem, while at the same time securing the most economic and profitable solution for their gas and settling the issue of the Turkish demands and threats. The Turkish Cypriots would solve the problem and become European citizens while also participating in the hydrocarbon bonanza. Greece would secure the best possible solution of a major national issue as well as acquire another source of supply and/or profitable transportation to Europe of natural gas. For Turkey the solution of the Cyprus problem would open the gates to Europe and would benefit financially from the transportation of the gas through her territory. Lastly, Europe and the international community would settle a problem, which has been a bleeding wound for the past decades.

As regards whether Greek Cypriots can trust Turkey and allow our gas to pass through her territory, he says if we do not trust Turkey after the solution of the Cyprus problem, then why have we been negotiating with the Turkish Cypriots for the past 35 years for a federal solution to our problem? If we do not trust the Turks after a federal settlement, then let us speak clearly. Let us support a two-state arrangement - the Greeks on one side and the Turks on the other. Because there is no other solution left, which can be negotiated.