THE FIRST meeting between President Christofias and the new Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, on Wednesday, went smoothly and another has been arranged for next week. Statements made after the meeting by both men were low-key and business-like, neither opting for point-scoring or for raising the stakes.
Perhaps the dinner thrown by Alexander Downer the previous night had helped break the ice. The presence of Mrs Eroglu and Mrs Christofia could have helped in this respect. To be fair, neither leader tried to exploit, what both described as a ‘social event’, for political purposes. The smiles during the photo-op seemed genuine and everyone seemed pretty relaxed and genial.
We know we should not read too much into a social engagement and introductory meeting, because everything could be turned on its head when they meet next week, but it was important to note that neither brought political baggage with him. For instance, most people on the Greek Cypriot side considered it a foregone conclusion that Eroglu’s election would guarantee no progress in the talks. It was argued that he had a different agenda from his predecessor, being a traditional supporter of confederation, and would try to change the basis of the talks.
He proved us wrong, by agreeing to the resumption of the talks from the point they had been stopped for the elections. He accepted everything that had been agreed by Talat and Christofias so far, as well as the basis of the talks they had agreed. Eroglu disappointed everyone who had been predicting that he would adopt a negative stance and block any progress.
Then again, it was naive to believe that Ankara would allow Eroglu to throw a spanner in the works, after it had reaped so many diplomatic benefits from what the world perceived as her ‘constructive approach’ to the talks. The UN Secretary-General repeatedly praised Turkey’s prime minister for giving a boost to the talks and there was no way Ankara would allow Eroglu to waste all the political capital made so far, by pursuing his own agenda.
In short, nothing has changed at the talks, and Wednesday’s meeting proved the point – it was business as usual with the leaders agreeing, with the minimum of fuss on how to proceed on property. Christofias’ proposal for a moratorium on public statements was also a good idea which would help the procedure. Perhaps the positive approach comes from the realisation that a time-frame has been set for an agreement. The UN Secretary-General made this pretty clear in his statement by saying time was not on the side of the two leaders.
The next few months will be very interesting for the Cyprus problem, because Eroglu may have replaced Talat, but Turkey’s objective of getting rid of the Cyprus problem has not changed. Any calculations that Eroglu would allow Christofias to quit the talks without taking any blame are proving misplaced and unjustified.
