PRESIDENT Demetris Christofias said yesterday that he did not have high expectations from the two-day intensive negotiations in New York between himself, the Turkish Cypriot leader and the United Nations’ Secretary-General (UNSG) Ban Ki-moon which start today.
“I had hoped we would be close to an agreement. However we are not and I hope that the UNSG is correctly informed by his advisors and of course has the correct appraisal of the situation,” Christofias said.
Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu said that although the Turkish Cypriot side was working towards a timely solution, the Greek Cypriot side was trying to postpone any possible solution for 2013, Cyprus News Agency reported.
Cyprus assumes the presidency of the EU council in July 2012 – a responsibility which will likely prevent the government from engaging in any intensive negotiations.
Following that there will be presidential elections in February 2013.
“I would like to call on both leaders to grasp the opportunity to reach a comprehensive settlement now,” President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso said on Friday.
Barosso said that after more than three years of talks, which started September 2008, “time has come to close all outstanding core issues”.
Eroglu said that his side was entering the talks with a clear strategy and would discuss all chapters except property, territory and guarantees.
Eroglu said that they had not reached convergence on all issues because the Greek Cypriot side failed to respond on certain areas.
Failing to reach agreement on property has being worrying UN circles with one person close to the talks saying that failing to reach agreement on who gets what meant that the future was bleak for the remaining chapters.
Christofias said that Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots were wrongly trying to convey the impression a solution was close.
“Unfortunately, that is propaganda. So I want to believe that during this conference there will be genuine progress, and the condition for that is for the Turkish Cypriot side and Turkey in general to shift away from the intransigent positions they have been putting forth,” Christofias said.
“Our side is going in the New York meeting without appropriate and sufficient preparation,” the spokesperson for former coalition party DIKO Fotis Fotiou said yesterday.
He said that the Greek Cypriot side was not prepared because “of the serious institutional and political crisis” in Cyprus and “the unwillingness of the President of the Republic to fully inform the National Council”.
Fotiou said that Christofias’ statements suggested he distrusted the UNSG’s special adviser, Alexander Downer as well as the UN team handling the Cyprus problem; an “indirect slur” that he should take up with the UNSG directly, Fotiou said.
Leader of main opposition party DISY Nicos Anastasiades, meanwhile, has called for the abandonment of “arrogant behaviour” from all parties.
“Only unity and collectiveness around specific goals … can render nationally acceptable results,” Anastasiades said.
The two leaders had their last session about two weeks ago.
Downer said that there had been “some progress” on “several” of the core issues but added there were still “important divergences that need to be resolved”.
The leaders last met with the UN Chief in Geneva in July 7 when they agreed to intensify negotiations to reach convergence on core issues by this month and then conclude the talks in New York.
Ban said in July that “progress has been far too slow” since he met with the two leaders previously last January in Geneva. Downer concurred and described the last three months of the talks leading up to the July Geneva meeting as the “worst” since they began in September 2008.
Downer described the question of whether they had been significant progress on all core issues since then (as per Ban’s request in July) as a “half glass full, half glass empty kind of question”.
Negotiations itinerary
Negotiations begin today with the leaders of both communities meeting the United Nations’ Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The leaders of both communities will also be meeting with Ban’s special advisor for Cyprus Alexander Downer and will be having a series of intense negotiations throughout today and tomorrow in the hope to reach convergence on all remaining issues and/or decide on the way forward.
The UN Chief also held a preliminary meeting with Downer yesterday.
Christofias met yesterday afternoon with Greek Foreign Minister Stavros Lambrinides who was already in New York for a meeting with his US counterpart Hilary Clinton.
Christofias arrived in New York accompanied by government spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou, presidential commissioner George Iacovou and negotiating team member Toumazos Tselepis.
Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu is accompanied by his spokesperson Osman Ertug, adviser Kudret Ozersai and members of his negotiating team.
Ban will issue a statement on Monday evening following the conclusion of the two-day meetings.
