LAST WEEK we had expressed the hope that, failing all else, the UN Secretary-General’s presence in Cyprus would at least help instill a sense of urgency in the very slow-moving peace process.
Although Ban Ki-moon received assurances from President Christofias that he would propose a framework for the continuation of the negotiations until the end of March, the latter made no commitment to more rounds of intensive talks like those held in January.
Ban left the island none the wiser about how Christofias wanted the talks to proceed, but at least he was given a very clear exposition of what the president objected to. He does not want any timeframes, arbitration or intensive talks while his spokesman made it very clear that our side does not want UN mediation either.
Presumably, the only role the president is prepared to recognise for Special Representative, Alexander Downer is as master of ceremonies; as for the rest of the UN team, they can take minutes, make photocopies and coffees and entertain the bodyguards of the two leaders.
In this way, Christofias and Talat can be assured of keeping the ownership of the process Cypriot and rule out the possibility of meddling foreigners trying to impose a foreign solution that does not serve the interests of all Cypriots – Greeks, Turks, Armenians, Maronites and Latins – plus 50,000 Turkish settlers.
Ban was won over to the idea and in his statement expressed his “personal support to the Cypriot-led and -owned process to reunify the island,” or whatever else the owners of the process might want to do with it. They are its owners they can do what they like with it – they could sell the film rights to Hollywood, if they so desired.
We Cypriots may have an unhealthy liking for litigation but we are also renowned for our tendency to sit together and resolve our differences in a reasonable and amicable way – as long as we are not being pressured by anyone.
If the international players and the UN had left the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots on their own, the Cyprus problem would have been solved many years ago in the just and fair way that has always eluded foreign mediators, out of touch with the realities on the island. Of course now, having started the negotiations from scratch, the two leaders will require a fair bit of time to put together a workable and viable settlement that respects all human rights, ensures the political equality of the two communities and does away with Turkish settlers and guarantees.
When in a few years’ time, the two leaders – assuming that Talat has not been replaced by the hawkish Dervis Eroglu in April – close the chapter on governance and power sharing in a mutually satisfactory way, they can then move on to the more difficult chapters such as property, territory and security.
Of course, there is the danger that Christofias might not be re-elected in 2013 and that his successor is from a party that wants to achieve a settlement without making any concessions to the Turks such as the rotating presidency.
We should not worry about such eventualities, as long as the process remains Cypriot-led and Cypriot-owned. Cypriot ownership of the talks will ensure against the rushed closure of the Cyprus problem which foreign countries, led by Britain, have been unsuccessfully plotting for more than 30 years now.
Thankfully, our politicians have always been alert to this danger and have thwarted the foreign plans to close the problem. Christofias is quite right in vehemently opposing artificial or suffocating timeframes for the conclusion of the talks, because he has a national obligation to keep the problem unsolved for future generations.
Cypriot ownership of the talks, approved by no lesser person than the UN Secretary-General, guarantees the continuation of the problem. And if Christofias’ critics, who never miss an opportunity to disparage his handling of the talks were fair, they would give him the credit he deserves for claiming ownership rights. They must have realised that, as the owners of the process, we now have the freedom to set the pace at which it will move and ignore Ban’s pleas for the talks “to go faster”.
