NEW Horizons leader Nicos Koutsou said yesterday the real negotiations on the Cyprus problem were not taking place in Burgenstock but somewhere else.
Koutsou was speaking to Greek Cypriot journalists during an impromptu visit by party leaders to the press hotel.
The politicians’ reaction to the Swiss process was mixed.
“True negotiations are not conducted here but somewhere else,” Koutsou said. “The objective is to impose on us acceptance of the permanent derogations demanded by Turkey to satisfy Turkey’s terms on the (non) return of refugees and property rights.”
He said the Greek Cypriot side’s position was clear: that if there were no improvements on the issues of refugees, and acceptance of EU principles of freedom of movement, the right to property and everything covered by the EU acquis and the judgements of the European Courts, “the plan cannot be approved”.
“We will consequently be led to the cathartic stage of a referendum and moving to the next phase of reaching a correct settlement where Greeks and Turks can live together in a real European state,” he said.
EDEK leader Yiannakis Omirou said the process had entered a critical stage, where the Greek Cypriot side needed determination to defend the basic issues of the Cyprus problem.
“I can’t say that this second phase has advanced to substantive negotiations,” he said.
“There has been an exchange of the positions of the two sides presented in codified form, but there has been no indication of change in Turkish intransigence and the positions of the Turkish side continue to be outside the framework of the Annan plan and are aimed at nullifying the basic principles of the plan, and not just that, to wreck the basis of any federal system as this is internationally accepted on the basis of international law.”
He said the Greek Cypriot side was seeking a solution based on the EU acquis and that whatever settlement is reached must allow Cyprus to join the EU as an equal member without any derogations.
Nicos Cleanthous, deputy chairman of President Tassos Papadopoulos’ DIKO, also said the procedure so far had not had the desired effect of leading to a satisfactory and acceptable settlement.
“We are towards the end of this procedure… but it has not had the desired effect…and in the final analysis a revised plan by Annan will be put before the people and we hope and pray this will respond to the aspirations of the people so that a settlement is a true solution and not exactly the opposite,” he said.
Greens leader George Perdikis said he believed the really tough work would begin when Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his Greek counterpart Costas Karamanlis would arrive over the weekend.
“De Soto is trying to put pressure,” he said. “He wants to prepare for an agreement and is pushing the committees to complete their work.” Perdikis said that until now the Greek Cypriot side had been able to resist the pressure.
DISY leader Nicos Anastassiades was the only one to sound an optimistic note and was cautious. He said he could not comment on the substance of the talks. “There is still time,” he said. “The next days will show if we are being led to a settlement.
People should not worry. There is still time.”
The DISY leader also denied reports that there were differences between members of the National Council.
