Downer: UN is only a sounding board

THE UNITED Nations made it clear yesterday they do not want to act as arbitrators in the Cyprus problem talks as they try to quell concerns over the degree of their involvement.

“Just so that people don’t get carried away with conspiracy theories, the UN doesn’t want to be involved in arbitration and mediation here,” UN Secretary-General Special Adviser Alexander Downer said after a meeting between President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu who resumed talks to resolve the Cyprus problem yesterday.

Downer said the international organisation wanted to help with the process “so we spent a good deal of time at different levels, not just at my level, but at different levels talking to the two sides about the issues and exchanging views on the issues.”

The UN has specialists with great expertise in the different chapters discussed in the talks who are used to help, Downer said.

“Their job isn’t to write solutions for the two sides or anything like that but to be sounding boards for the two sides,” the Australian diplomat said. “But you know at the end of the day they have to work out these solutions amongst themselves and be comfortable with it, because as I have explained, contrary to conspiracy theories which suggest that the UN has a secret plan to impose a solution on Cyprus, this has to be approved by two referendums.”

He said ultimately the leaders are going to put agreement to the people as their agreement – not someone else’s – and they are going to have to sell it as their agreement.

“And that of course will maximise the prospect of it being accepted by the public,” Downer said. “If it is a foreigner’s agreement, and I know from my own country, it will be very hard to sell I suspect.”

Christofias and Eroglu met for a couple of hours yesterday, focusing their discussion on the property issue.

Downer said they agreed to meet again on Monday and next Friday, October 22.

Their representatives will meet again this Friday to organise a schedule of meetings beyond the agreed dates.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.