CYPRUS’ two leaders have five months to noticeably speed up momentum in the new round of talks, which began on Wednesday, UN Special Envoy Alexander Downer has said in an interview with the Sunday Mail.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made it clear in his May 11 ‘Good Offices’ report that he would be issuing a second submission to the Security Council in November. Normally the ‘Good Offices’ report comes out once a year. Ban’s departure from the norm has been interpreted in many quarters as a message that the November report might not pull any punches if either side is stalling.
Downer, who has come under heavy fire all week over his talk of progress, said that while he has no benchmark for the amount of progress that might be made over the next five months, “my expectation is that the Secretary-General will be able to file a report on the excellent progress that has been made between May and November.”
He said the UN wants to see a momentum in the process, and so more frequent reports by the Secretary-General would help keep the Security Council’s attention focused on the issue, which in turn would contribute to the momentum.
The Secretary-General’s thought was to do another report in November rather than just doing one every year, giving them an overview of what will have happened over the previous five months, he said.
“By November – I don’t think it’s going to happen – but the talks could have stalled or broken down or reached deadlock. Obviously if that were to happen we would have to think about what to do next,” said Downer.
He believes the two leaders want to intensify the process. “Greek Cypriots want a solution as soon as they possibly can, even though they don’t have a timetable. Of course the Turkish Cypriots want to do it by the end of the year,” said Downer.
Downer clarified that the UN was not necessarily seeking a comprehensive settlement by November. “But obviously our expectation is that there will be substantially more convergence than there has been up until now, though I keep saying there has been a lot of progress,” he said.
Although he has decided not to publicly engage with his detractors – the more hard line opposition parties – who have been calling for his head all week over his references to “progress”, Downer said: “I would say I know something about the progress that has been made because I’ve sat in the meetings and I’ve read all the documents and I have talked to the people on both sides about it. I’m not sure everybody knows as much about how much progress there has been as I do. There has been good progress but there needs to be more, particularly on the hard issues.”
The hard issues include property, territory and security.
President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, who negotiated for the first time on Wednesday, began with the property issue and will continue when they meet again in the coming week.
“We’re very encouraged that the two leaders have dived into this extremely important chapter,” said Downer. “I think they have been very wise to start on what you might call a difficult issue.”
He said there were already some specific convergences on property. The big difference, he added, was the so-called principle that owners can decide what to do with their own properties, which is supported by the Greek Cypriot side. The Turkish Cypriot side opposes the principle, fearing the possibility of a Greek Cypriot majority in certain areas.
Referring to the controversial issue of an international conference on Cyprus, Downer said “at a certain point but not now” this would have to come into play on account of the guarantor status of Greece, Turkey and Britain.
He said Greece and Turkey were very focused on the Cyprus issue and there was a constant process of consultation with the respective sides in Cyprus. “Their commitment should not be underestimated but ultimately it’s up to the people of Cyprus,” he said.
“This is an agreement that’s within grasp of the two sides. They can do this. There is no doubt in my mind about that. I’ve always said this. Whether they will, is of course, a completely different question, but it can be done.”
