DESPITE REPEATED calls on the international community to put pressure on Turkey regarding a Cyprus settlement, the US remained unaware of what exactly the island wanted from Ankara seven months after talks started, US embassy cables disclosed by WikiLeaks revealed.
A ‘confidential’ cable, dated April 16, 2009, was sent by US ambassador in Nicosia Frank Urbancic to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton four days before her meeting with Foreign Minister Markos Kyprianou in Washington.
Sharp-eyed and occasionally sardonic, the US ambassador sets the scene for Clinton, briefing her on a range of issues, from the need to make Greek Cypriots understand the status quo on the island cannot continue, to President Demetris Christofias’ turning Cypriot foreign policy a shade of ‘red’.
Ahead of the Clinton-Kyprianou meeting, Urbancic noted: “Upon departing for the United States on April 15, the Cypriot Foreign Minister repeated his mantra that the US Government should pressure Turkey regarding a Cyprus settlement. Kyprianou has not specified what he would have us press Ankara to do, however.”
Further highlighting the gap between common perceptions in Cyprus and prevailing views within the international community, the cable reveals US and UN Special Adviser Alexander Downer’s thinking on Turkey: specifically, that as of April 2009 Turkey’s role in the peace talks remained limited.
“Our view, shared by the UN’s Downer, is that Turkey mainly is observing the talks at this point, not directing them,” said Urbancic.
He suggested Clinton probe the Cypriot FM on what exactly the Greek Cypriots want, saying: “You might push Kyprianou for concrete actions the international community might take with Ankara to spur greater Cyprus Problem movement.”
Urbancic advised Clinton to stress US support for the talks, and highlight its work on the sidelines, such as “discreetly funding substantive experts advising the UN team, and promoting enactment of confidence-building measures to improve the negotiating climate”.
While some say Christofias has staked his legacy on getting a deal, the diplomat warned that no Greek Cypriot leader loses much electorally by taking a hard line in the talks. Christofias won’t walk away from the talks, but there is a danger they “could die slowly” with Greek Cypriots citing Turkish and Turkish Cypriot intransigence as the causethe cable said.
As a counterweight, the US supported Downer’s tactic “to inject some uncertainty in Greek Cypriots’ minds that this cannot go on forever.
“Hard compromises will be required from both sides, and the leaders have a special responsibility to educate and lobby their respective rank-and-file to support the process and an eventual deal,” said Urbancic.
Providing a backdrop under the heading ‘Tense Atmospherics in the Run-up to Your Meeting’, Urbancic reminded Clinton that she last saw Kyprianou on the sidelines of the US-EU summit earlier that month.
During that meeting, Kyprianou called for a “new start in bilateral relations with the new US administration”, including a policy of “no surprises”.
The fresh start wilted within days after Kyprianou complained he had to learn from the media that Clinton planned on receiving then Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat that same month. Urbancic notes, however, that Talat immediately told Christofias about the visit before it was made public. While not specified in the cable, this latter issue could reflect a possible gap in communications between the president and minister.
The US diplomat highlighted that a degree of “visit neuralgia” had gripped the Greek Cypriot community, spurring fears “in this zero-sum region” that US efforts to strengthen relations with Ankara would ultimately cost its relations with Greece and Cyprus.
This reached “fever pitch” during US President Barrack Obama’s visit to Turkey.
The ambassador predicted Kyprianou would raise the issue of Cypriot membership in international bodies, which Turkey regularly opposes at their meeting.
Of greatest recent interest to Nicosia was a spot in the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, he noted, since Cyprus maintains the world’s eleventh-largest merchant fleet.
“Our general policy is to support Cypriot membership in entities that are global and inclusive in nature,” he said, acknowledging however that Turkey, which contributed a ship and helicopter to the effort, opposes Cypriot participation.
Regarding Turkey’s harassment of Cypriot-contracted research vessels conducting natural gas and petroleum exploration off the island’s southern coast, and Cyprus’ subsequent blocking of the energy chapter in Turkey’s accession negotiations, the diplomat said: “We have been urging moderation and restraint on both sides.”
