THERE IS no doubt that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s arrival injected a dose of enthusiasm to the peace process which until now has displayed symptoms of a heavily sedated patient; sometimes dull, often grave and always depressed.
It’s too early to tell what kind of an impact his visit will have on the talks, but from his brief stay, one got a sense that his wings were clipped by the convoluted dynamics of the peace process.
Here is a man who only five days ago was co-hosting a conference on Afghanistan with the world’s top leaders in London. On Sunday he made his first ever visit to Cyprus, during which he met the two leaders, lunched and dined with politicians from both sides of the divide, stood in the heart of the buffer zone, kick-started the long-delayed restoration of Ledra Street and raised a glass to civil society. Yet the general conclusion among observers was that he didn’t really say or do very much.
So much had been riding on yesterday’s joint press conference from all sides. When the intensive talks were delayed last Wednesday, UN Special Adviser Alexander Downer told reporters they would hear more on Friday. When Friday came, and little was said other than that significant progress had been achieved, the Australian diplomat said there would be more to announce on Monday after Ban had met the two leaders. Yesterday came, Ban and the leaders came out and we were told little more than what we’d heard on Friday, that significant progress had been made in the talks, mainly on the governance chapter. After 17 months of talks, if no progress had been made on at least one of the six chapters under negotiation, then Ban would have had to ask himself: “No, really, why am I here?” After all, only he was in a position to pose the question since the press were not allowed to ask anything to the first-time visitor of Cyprus.
One statement that stood out from yesterday’s joint press conference was President Demetris Christofias’ comment that he was prepared to continue negotiations with Talat, despite the looming elections in the north. Getting both leaders to carry on negotiations in the run-up to April’s elections was not a given, as some might easily assume.
One could argue that the “anti-climax” was orchestrated for a very good reason. It is not easy to make detailed announcements of progress when the mantra “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” applies. Releasing information could provide fodder for hardliners on both sides set against a negotiated settlement. As for Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, a successful visit by the UNSG without any major hiccups would be seen as a perfect tonic before embarking on an uphill struggle to remain in power.
Among the Greek Cypriot party leadership, the build-up to Ban’s visit was tainted by the fear that he would force some kind of preliminary agreement between the two leaders. So much so, that in every single one of his speeches on the island, Ban made sure to give the message to the Cypriot people that they “owned” the process.
On his arrival at Larnaca airport, he said: “This process belongs to Cyprus”. At the dinner hosted by Christofias on Sunday night, he said: “From the beginning, this has been a Cypriot-owned and Cypriot-led process with the Cypriots taking responsibility for reaching a settlement.”
At Ledra Street, we got a little more up close and personal, as he shared his views on the “very sad reality, emptiness and destructions” of his divided homeland, Korea. But he still had time to remind everyone that the talks were “Cypriot-led, Cypriot owned”. After his joint meeting with the two leaders, he was a little more forthright, saying: “For decades, the world has heard about the Cyprus problem. Now is the time for the Cyprus solution”, adding of course, that this process was “by the people and for the people of Cyprus”.
At yesterday’s cocktail reception at the Ledra Palace, despite the absence of DIKO, EDEK, the Greens and EVROKO, he still took the opportunity to remind anyone who hadn’t heard that the future was in the hands of the Cypriot people, saying, “I cannot impose anything…you are the ones who will benefit”.
The fact that those shouting most about the dangers of Ban visiting the island were the same people who boycotted yesterday’s reception did not go amiss among the diplomatic community. One diplomat, using uncommonly strong language said they were “absolutely disgusted” with the reactions of some parties to his visit.
Even the notoriously pro-division Dervis Eroglu, tipped by some polls to be the next Turkish Cypriot leader, attended the reception and shared a joke or two with Christofias and Talat.
All in all, Ban cut a friendly, approachable figure among the crowds of wine-sipping Cypriot politicians and civil society officials. He came to remind Cyprus, not the world, that it’s time for peace. Perhaps the decision not to make grand statements or field media questions was taken with the clear and present danger of Cypriot political backlash in mind. Perhaps ambiguity was the only option on the table. The trip had to be a success, as the talks could not be called that…yet. Containment may have been the only option as failure would have let the naysayers have their day, while potentially helping to oust at least one pro-solution leader from the negotiating table.
As one champagne drinker said: “Well, I was hoping for a bit more than that,” before joking that last night’s reception was really the launch of Talat’s election campaign.
