The terms of reference that will determine whether reunification talks would resume must be drafted by the end of the year, President Nicos Anastasiades said on Tuesday.
Anastasiades said UN special envoy Jane Holl Lute had asked the two sides to agree on terms of reference for the resumption of the talks.
“She set a timeframe by the end of December the terms of reference must be agreed so that she can submit a report to the UNSG who will decide whether the conditions exist for the resumption of the talks,” the president said.
Asked whether this would be feasible, Anastasiades said “if there is a rational approach by everyone, why not?”
On the loose federation issue, the president said he had never said that Turkish Cypriots will not participate in all bodies of a federal state, and decisions will be taken as in all states.
What he said was, in order for the Turkish Cypriot community to feel safe, what is necessary is for the positive vote to be exercised where its vital interests are affected, Anastasiades added.
Later in the day, Baris Burcu, spokesman of Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akinci, said the federation is not a majority-minority system and decisions cannot be made as in a single state on the basis of a simple majority.
In a written statement explaining Akinci’s position for a positive vote, Burcu said that, as stated also in UN decisions, the system to be created in the framework of a federal solution in Cyprus will be based on the principle of equal political cooperation of the parties.
“In institutions where there is no numerical equality, there will be effective participation in decisions with mutual political equality. To be against this fundamental reality is like being against the federal solution and political equality,” Burcu said.
He expressed the wish for the Greek Cypriot side to “explain this element in honesty to its own community.”
In response to statement by Government Spokesman Prodromos Prodromou that political equality does not mean numerical equality in every federal body, Burcu said that, in some, there will be numerical equality, in some a ratio of 2:1. This, he said, is an element in which there is general agreement.
“In the federal bodies where there will be no numerical equality, the Turkish Cypriots will be effectively involved in the decision-making process,” he said, explaining that every decision in the federal administration will require participation by a positive vote of at least one Turkish Cypriot.
What the Turkish Cypriot leader mentioned on Monday, “was precisely this, because in the case there is no effective participation in decision-making, the presence of the persons representing the Turkish Cypriot constituent state in the federal institutions will not be conspicuous,” Burcu said.
During a news conference on Monday evening, Akinci said he considered the aim of federation feasible under the current circumstances and that is why “I wonder when I see the Greek Cypriot leadership viewing federation as a painful compromise.”
The current reunification model is a logical solution that can unite the two communities who have been living separated for over four decades, Akinci said.
Akinci said the Turkish Cypriot side was not opposed to the idea of a decentralised federal government as long as a concrete proposal was set on the table so that it can be evaluated.
Akinci said without joint decision-making it would mean either two separate states or a unitary state and the ongoing effort was for neither.
Main opposition Akel leader Andros Kyprianou on Tuesday repeated his concerns over the terms of reference.
“I understand that when it is clear that we have the same goal the procedure to arrive to this common goal must be discussed,” he said. “Things… are more demanding and complex and there is a risk of the procedure collapsing during discussion of the terms of reference.”
During a National Council meeting on Monday the president briefed party leaders about his recent meetings with Akinci and Lute, especially over the process of drafting the terms of reference for the negotiations.
