By Jean Christou
REPRESENTATIVES from unions on both sides of the Green Line met at the Ledra Palace yesterday to further their plans for a third All-Cyprus Trade Union Forum to be held in May.
It was the second such meeting in a month.
But the bicommunal Brussels businessmen’s ongoing rapprochement appears to have hit a snag over the controversy surrounding the capture by Turkey of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan.
Greek Cypriot representative for the Brussels Group Constantinos Lordos said yesterday the current climate appeared negative and questioned how the group could continue in the circumstances.
He was responding to reports in the Turkish Cypriot media that the Ocalan case had created a climate of mistrust.
“The majority of them (Turkish Cypriot representatives) seem to be under the influence of Mr Denktash, who of course doesn’t approve of any degree of rapprochement or of trying to find a solution to the Cyprus problem,” Lordos said.
He said the question now was of finding ways for the Brussels group to carry on.
“My theory is that we have to carry on but have to find more reliable people to work with,” he said.
The last meeting of the Brussels group took place in Istanbul in December.
Meanwhile the trade union forum is due to take place on May 28 and 29.
Three trade unions from each side will take part in the forum, left-wing Peo, right wing Sek and civil servants union Pasidy, along with the Turkish Cypriot unions Turk-Sen, Ktams and Dev-Is.
The third forum will focus on a review of developments since the last forum in 1998 and issues such as social security.
The trade union forums are designed to build confidence between the two sides and to help put in place a working system prior to an eventual solution based on a bicommunal bizonal federation.
Sek deputy general secretary Demetris Kittenis told journalists yesterday that officials and representatives from European and international trade unions would be invited to attend the forum.
He said 200 officials from 16 trade unions would take part.
“This third meeting of the unions is an attempt to form a climate of trust, ” Kittenis said. “We are going to try and meet on a regular basis.”
Turk-Sen representative Nihad Elmaz said he also hoped the meetings could continue.
“There’s nothing wrong with what we do,” he said. “We talk about union issues. We are carrying on for the time being and hope that we can continue to do so.”
Contacts between the two sides have come to a standstill since the end of 1997, when Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash called a halt to meetings over the EU’s decision to negotiate membership with Cyprus.
