WHEN it comes to the communications game, President Christofias and his associates play very amateurishly. There is no strategy, no real planning and no subtlety, with the result that they never achieve what they set out to. So crude are the methods used that nobody takes them seriously, certainly none of the people that we want to influence.
His package of proposals for the talks is a case in point. It was announced during a speech he made for the anniversary of the coup and before it was submitted to the negotiating table, thus giving the Turkish side an excuse to accuse him of playing games and not being serious.
He also announced that his proposals would be mailed to all EU leaders, so they knew what was going on in the talks. It could not have been made more obvious that his objective was to blame the Turkish side for the lack of progress in the talks. While this may be the case, it is unlikely his method would have convinced anyone, because nobody expects the one side in a negotiation to accept a package of proposals submitted by the other side. It just does not happen this way.
But the president wasted no time in praising his smart move, claiming that there had been a positive reaction. Apart from the Russian foreign ministry, which issued a neutral statement of support, stressing there could be no agreement against the wishes of either side, the package was ignored. On Sunday, however, Christofias could not resist the temptation to praise himself, saying that, thanks to the submission of the proposals, “we have come out on top.” Even if the aim of his proposals was to put the Turkish side on the defensive, should he be saying this?
He did not stop there. He also said that in the past, these positions were supported by the big majority of the political parties, although this was not the case now. However, he implied that his intention, ahead of today’s National Council meeting was to achieve unity, hence the package of proposals. In other words, his package was not only aimed at the Greek Cypriot side coming out on top but also at securing unity on the home front.
There is nothing wrong with trying to achieve these objectives, but what chance was there of either being realised when the president felt obliged to announce his motives. He has handed the Turkish side all the arguments it needs to reject the package without being blamed for being intransigent. Was this what he set out to do with the much-trumpeted package of proposals? If it was, he succeeded, but somehow we doubt it.
