FINDING A resolution to the Cyprus problem by the end of 2009 will depend on the stance held by Turkey and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, President Demetris Christofias said on Friday.
Speaking at Larnaca Airport after returning from his visit to Slovakia, the President “sadly noted” that the Turkish Cypriot side’s views at the negotiating table were “in many ways worse than those expressed in the Annan Plan”.
Christofias added, “The fact that we are stuck on one aspect [in the direct talks] and are not moving rapidly, should not be exploited by anyone, as this is not because of the Greek Cypriot side, neither is it due to how frequent the meetings are, but it is down to the positions and contents of these positions that each side is laying on the table”.
The President said the Turkish Cypriot stance had provoked the need for further discussions and a delay in procedures.
A slightly different picture was painted by the UN Secretary-general’s Special Adviser for Cyprus, Alexander Downer, who said there was momentum in the talks.
Downer called on the people to urge their leaders to continue to negotiate in order to come up with a good solution.
The UN delegate is back on the island to attend the direct talks, which began between the two leaders last September in the hope of reaching a resolution.
Announcing that he was “cautiously optimistic”, Downer stressed that a solution to the Cyprus problem should come from the people and not foreigners.
Speaking after a meeting with President Christofias on Friday at the Presidential Palace, Downer said that he had the opportunity to talk to the President for an hour after being away.
Asked about the talks, Downer replied that from the UN point of view, “our approach to this whole process is that we should be as hopeful as we possibly can but I have always said that it is my ambition and it is the UN’s ambition that this process ultimately will be a Cypriot process and owned by all the people of Cyprus.”
He emphasised that this was “not a process that will be owned by the UN or the international community”, adding that it is very important that Cypriots feel that they own the negotiation and ultimately if there is to be an agreement that they own that agreement themselves.
The UN diplomat said that he was trying to be helpful, noting he had met with Talat and other officials, while next week, apart from hosting the leaders’ meeting on Monday he will be having many meetings during the course of next week with leading figures in Cyprus.
Asked about possible UN arbitration in the future, Downer replied that this issue “is sort of like the tide, it rises and falls through the months”.
He said he has always maintained exactly the same position on that issue. “It’s not about arbitration and mediation, it’s about hoping, hoping as best as we possibly can, of course that is what the UN is trying to do here”.
Downer said that although he has been criticised “I have always said that I am cautiously optimistic about the process. I mean there is no guarantee that we will succeed, but it certainly can succeed with the right will and the right determination”.
Asked if success will come before the end of the year, Downer replied “we will see, I have always said ‘you need to have momentum’, this process needs to have momentum. You do not want to be setting artificial deadlines which will create a crisis in their own. But you nevertheless need to make sure that there is a continuation of the momentum, and we have momentum in this process. This momentum is faster some weeks than other weeks”, he said, adding that the “people should have a degree of hope and they should urge on their leaders to continue to negotiate and come up with a good solution”.
During their last meeting on January 5, the leaders of the two communities in Cyprus announced that they had reached agreement on the issue of harmonisation and cooperation between the federal government and the constituent states.
Their next meeting will take place on tomorrow.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-general Ban Ki Moon reconfirmed his interest in the Cyprus problem in a telephone conversation with Christofias on Friday.
The President thanked him in return for the UN’s assistance in the negotiations.
