By Jean Christou
FAMAGUSTA Mayor Alexis Galanos on Wednesday hinted at expected developments that would pave the way for the lawful inhabitants of the fenced-off area of Varosha to return to their properties.
Speaking at a news conference to announce this year’s anti-occupation march taking place on Saturday in Dherynia, Galanos said allowing experts to go in and evaluate the state of Varosha would constitute such a development.
“The message that must be conveyed is that people expect developments on Varosha,” he said. He expressed his conviction that these were expected, either on the issue of experts or another move that would begin the procedure for return.
“People must show their faith even if 41 years have gone by that we haven’t given up, but on the contrary, we have valid reasons to believe that there will be developments.”
He said there was a good climate surrounding the talks and that Varosha was at the centre of this, but declined to be more specific.
“I believe it’s valid. I cannot say more. I hope I am right,” he said.
He said his optimism stemmed from certain moves relating to the enclosed area, which were included in the confidence building measures (CBM) under discussion
Galanos said he had spoken with President Nicos Anastasiades, Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides as well as Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci on Tuesday night at the concert in Famagusta, and that also a delegation from Famagusta municipality had met on Tuesday with Greek Cypriot negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis.
Asked to clarify whether the developments were expected before a solution, Galanos said that if a solution was reached in three months’ time then the Varosha developments would not happen before a solution. He said it was one thing “to delude ourselves” and another to begin the return process by allowing the UN and other experts in to begin the process of reconstruction.
Though the two leaders have been discussing confidence building measures parallel to the talks, they have remained very low-key on Varosha.
Earlier this month, UN Special Adviser Espen Barth Eide told reporters: “Please remember our main focus is to solve the Cyprus problem. Once that is resolved then everything else will follow.”
Last year, during the visit of US Vice President Joe Biden – when Dervis Eroglu was still the Turkish Cypriot leader – an attempt was made to clinch a deal in which the US would fund a team of international experts to go into Varosha, study its condition and develop a master plan for rejuvenation. They would begin looking at electricity, water supply, sewage, roads, pavements etc. The next phase would have been to study whether the buildings were safe to live in so that the legitimate residents of Varosha could eventually return to their properties.
However, no breakthrough was announced, leaving Biden to say the US was encouraging the leaders to discuss a package on Varosha and Famagusta.
The Greek Cypriot side said later that the deal could not be struck because the Turkish Cypriot side was insisting that the international experts could be foreign or Turkish Cypriot, but explicitly not Greek Cypriot. Kasoulides said at the time that Eroglu was trying to “humiliate” the Greek Cypriot side.
“We never demanded that the experts be either Greek Cypriot or Turkish Cypriot, but we cannot accept that Greek Cypriots are forbidden in an area which is purely Greek,” he said.
The anti-occupation rally on Saturday will start at the cultural centre in Dherynia. Galanos called on all former residents of Famagusta to attend the event. Participants will march to the buffer zone and hand a petition to the UN.
Galanos said the protest was against the occupation itself and not the Turkish Cypriots “with whom we want to develop relations within the good climate that exists today.”
Anastasiades was due to attend but is travelling to the UK for the funeral of his old school friend, property billionaire Chris Lazari, 69, who died in London on Monday. The president’s speech will be read out by Defence Minister Christoforos Fokaides.
