THE CLIMATE between the two sides negotiating on the Cyprus problem has been “ruined” by last week’s parliamentary resolution on guarantees, Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat was quoted as saying yesterday.
Speaking after the two leaders resumed all-day talks following a 25-day break, Talat said he discussed the issue with President Demetris Christofias during their meeting at the UN-controlled Nicosia airport.
He was quoted by Anatolia News Agency saying that the Turkish Cypriot ‘parliament’ had given the “necessary response” to the resolution passed on guarantees.
In a unanimous vote last Thursday, parliament adopted a resolution denouncing Turkey’s “arbitrary” interpretation of the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee. Fearful of any reciprocal measure by the Turkish Cypriot ‘parliament’, Talat had called on Christofias and DISY leader Nicos Anastassiades to hold back the resolution but to no avail.
Yesterday, Talat described the decision by Greek Cypriot parliamentarians as a bad one: “We can’t do much about this issue. What’s happened has happened. It was bad. It was wrong. The climate has been ruined. The positive climate between us, whatever level it was at, has been ruined. That’s why it wasn’t a good thing.”
The two leaders resumed talks yesterday following the recent visit of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Over seven hours, the two exchanged views on the economy chapter and other issues. They agreed for the working groups of both sides to meet tomorrow to pick up where the two left off.
Speaking on his return to the presidential palace, Christofias said the two leaders also had a private meeting “where we freely exchanged views both on current issues which could be raised by one or the other side, but also on all aspects of the Cyprus problem”.
Asked whether Talat voiced a preference to continue discussions on the governance chapter which the two had covered in significant detail during intensified meetings in January, Christofias replied: “Talat can state whatever he likes.”
“I negotiate seriously and I will say what I have to say without many answers to questions which create additional issues for internal consumption and for frictions among the parties,” he added.
The president said the next three meetings in March will cover the chapters of economy, EU matters and property “and whatever else can be discussed, if there is time”.
For his part, Talat highlighted that the Greek Cypriot side had yet to agree to his request for an extra four meetings beyond the four already scheduled to take place before ‘presidential elections’ in the north on April 18.
UN Special Adviser Alexander Downer said the two leaders still had “a significant number of aspects to the economy chapter” which “they need to go through”.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso’s personal representative to the Cyprus talks Leopold Maurer was also present at the talks, according to reports.
The two leaders will meet again for their second all-day session next Thursday.
