Turkish Cypriot chief negotiator Ozdil Nami seemed to indicate on Monday that the issue of opening the fenced-off town of Varosha was being considered but under what circumstances that might happen had not been settled.
Responding to unconfirmed reports over the weekend that the Turkish side would hand Varosha to the UN, Nami said:
“We should not expect developments similar to those that would have been taken in the case of a comprehensive settlement.”
This seemed to imply that as Varosha being handed to the UN comes within the parameters of a comprehensive settlement, this would not take place. But it could also imply that the Turkish side was no longer considering UN parameters at all as indicated by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu after the talks collapsed in Crans-Montana Switzerland on July 7.
At the same time, Nami also appeared to be negating reports last week that Varosha would be opened under Turkish Cypriot administration when he said: “We won’t take on the whole world… the necessary evaluations will be made according to these two principles. We will do what we see as being in our interests. We will evaluate whether it’s Varosha or another issue.”
UN Security Council Resolution 550 of 1984 calls for Varosha to be handed over to the administration of the United Nations and resettled by its former inhabitants. Varosha has been a ghost-city since August 1974, when its inhabitants fled as the Turkish army advanced to the south. It was fenced off by the Turkish army, with access allowed only to Turkish military. It has always been understood that, as part of any territorial adjustment in the context of a comprehensive solution, Varosha would be among the areas to be returned under Greek Cypriot administration.
A report on Saturday from the north cited a “senior Turkish Cypriot source” as saying that the Turkish Cypriot side’s intention was to give up the area so it can be placed under UN control, according to UN resolutions and international law. The source stressed it would not be “under Turkish Cypriot control”.
The government has said that opening up Varosha under Turkish Cypriot control would be tantamount to extending the Turkish occupation but Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides said on Sunday that the Greek Cypriot side was ready to discuss the opening of Varosha under the auspices of the UN.
Kasoulides said it was clear from statements made by a UN spokesman last Friday that “the United Nations is advocating the opening of the fenced city of Famagusta in the form of a confidence building measure only with the agreement of both sides and not unilaterally.” The UN spokesman said they would welcome any mutually agreed confidence measures.
Also on Sunday, government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said the Greek Cypriot side was preparing very specific actions in relation to the issue of Varosha.
Christodoulides said there is no ‘official’ information on the reports and indicated that it wasn’t right to be playing with the desire of people to want to return to their ancestral homes.
“We must all be very careful with people’s desire to return to their homes. Nobody should use communications games to advance other agendas,” he said. “Beyond that, I wish Turkey would implement UN resolutions.”
Handing over Varosha under UN auspices would be a step in the right direction, the spokesman said. Turkish Cypriot Democratic Party leader Serdar Denktash also weighed in on Monday saying he looked extremely positively on the opening of Varosha
“It’s time to meet an economic and political demand,” he said
“It will be an important opening to see Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots live and work together once the area becomes operational again,” he added. “We kept it closed for years thinking that a solution will happen and we’ll return it. But a solution didn’t happen.”
Nami said that the next steps should be to aim “to act in a way that forces the Greek Cypriot side to a solution”.
“However, a policy which turns its back to the Greek Cypriot side and takes on the world will not be followed,” he added. “There is a need of a policy which is single minded, constructive and extends the hand of friendship.”
(Additional reporting by Tahsin Eroglu)
