THE CYPRUS issue was in a de facto hibernation in 2006 and the few small developments that did happen haven not yet borne any fruit, although tentative hopes are emerging for a resumption of talks in 2007.
In early 2006, President Tassos Papadopoulos headed off to Paris for a meeting with UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan, announcing an agreement to enter twin-track talks on a technical level and political level.
Annan had made it clear after the failed referendum on his reunification plan in 2004 that he would not resume Cyprus talks unless there was evidence of enough good will for them to succeed.
By May, nothing had been done and Annan made a new call for talks. Around the same time, Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat offered to scratch the Annan plan and begin new talks, but his offer fell on deaf ears.
In July, Annan sent an envoy, Undersecretary for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari, to ‘knock heads” on putting together a twin-track process, and everyone made promises. Yet it took the two sides three hours to agree on a joint statement following the meeting, something that proved ominous for the future of the process.
Barely six weeks later, the process was going nowhere, as the two sides could not even agree on a list of topics. Each side blamed the other for the lack of progress.
After a second nudge from the UN, meetings between two senior advisers only resumed in December, after three months during which the Finnish EU presidency was attempting to cut a deal that would avoid a crisis between Turkey and the EU.
Ankara has still not opened its ports and airports to Greek Cypriots, despite its EU obligation to do so. Finland tried to overcome the hurdle but like all others before them, were forced to admit defeat.
In the end, the EU froze eight of Turkey’s negotiating chapters, but gave no new deadline for Ankara to normalise relations with Cyprus.
With no joy towards a solution coming out of the EU, the Greek Cypriot side has been forced to return to the UN process and things appear as if they might move in that direction in 2007.
In late November, Annan, the outgoing UN Secretary-general, made provision in the 2007 budget for the appointment of a new Cyprus envoy if the need arose in the coming months, depending on developments.
He has warned that the appointment of a new special adviser for Cyprus is contingent on progress in the technical and working groups.
Annan also warned the two sides in Cyprus not to take the UN for granted.
