Any confidence building measures (CBMs) should reinforce the negotiations procedure and serve the settlement within the agreed framework, Government Spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said on Saturday.
In a written statement, the spokesman said he wanted to set the record straight as regards claims made by the Turkish Cypriot side concerning a number of CBMs.
President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci had agreed in 2015 to a number of CBMs including the opening of two new crossings – in Dherynia and Lefka – to interconnect electricity grids, enable direct telephone communications between the two sides without having to go through Turkey, and the operation of a technical committee on education.
Akinci said earlier in the week that he would like to discuss CBMs during Sunday’s dinner with Anastasiades. He had said that it was “sad and worrying” that the CBMs agreed were not yet implemented.
“With or without a solution,” Akinci had said, the CBMs were necessary.
As regards direct telephone communication, Christodoulides said the Greek Cypriot side submitted a proposal in 2015 concerning the introduction of a Dual International Mobile Subscriber Identity (Dual IMSI) system which would allow all local providers to offer their subscribers SIM cards for coverage everywhere on the island without the requirement of any agreements between companies on roaming charges.
“Unfortunately, and possibly to serve political expediencies, the Turkish Cypriot side does not agree with this proposal, supporting instead direct roaming agreements between companies in the government controlled areas and the north,” the statement said.
It added that the Turkish Cypriot proposal is “politically precarious” and problematic as it clashes with EU legislation that provides that cooperation with any non-licenced telecommunications provider is a criminal offence. The initial proposal of the Greek Cypriot side for agreements between companies operating in the government controlled areas and the parent companies in Turkey “was rejected by the Turkish Cypriot side without any discussion”.
Concerning the interconnection of electricity grids, Christodoulides said that the fact that the Greek Cypriot side had responded positively in 2016 to the request of the north to provide electricity following a technical problem and that it continues to provide electricity to the north, proves that “the grid already operates synchronised, on a temporary basis, to serve the needs of the Turkish Cypriot side”.
A study on the upgrade of the system and to explore the technical aspect of this interconnection on a permanent basis, is underway, he said.
The technical committee on crisis management, he said, is discussing details for setting up a horizontal mechanism that would be activated in cases of emergencies such as fires and other crises.
As regards the technical committee on education – on which Akinci recently criticised the Greek Cypriot side for being indifferent to bicommunal contacts between schools out of fear of upgrading the breakaway regime in the north – Christodoulides said the Greek Cypriot side promotes bicommunal actions, “in good faith”. He added that the Greek Cypriot side has also submitted a number of proposals to the committee that aim to contribute to the “cultivation of conditions of peace and reconciliation”.
On the issue of the two crossings, Christodoulides said that the Greek Cypriot side is working intensively for their opening and is ready to proceed with the opening of any crossing that is “technically ready”.
Works at the Dherynia crossing, he said, will be completed soon, while works at that of Lefka will take longer due to their extent, “the land morphology and the national and European procedures that the Republic of Cyprus has to follow.
“Any CBMs, will have to support the negotiation procedure and serve the sought goal which is the settlement of the Cyprus problem within the agreed framework,” he said.
President Anastasiades had rejected Akinci’s proposal to discuss CBMs during Sunday’s dinner, as, he said, that would harm the effort to resume a constructive dialogue.
