THE Turkish Cypriot side yesterday called off a meeting to discuss the technical committees after Mehmet Ali Talat said he wanted to review the entire procedure.
Tasos Tzonis and Rasit Pertev, senior aides to the two leaders, who met on Tuesday, were due to meet again under UN auspices yesterday.
The two advisers have been meeting on and off since last July after the two sides reached a UN-brokered agreement to set up technical and working committees.
However ten months down the line both the composition and the agendas of the two committees has not materialised.
Talat announced that his side had begun a review of the July 8 procedure, as envisaged by the UN, and that the Tzonis-Pertev meeting had been cancelled.
The Turkish Cypriot leader said his side needed two days to review the process and that he was in continuous contact with the UN on the issue.
He said the revaluation of the July 8 process would take place with the participation of Turkey but would not involve a visit to Ankara.
Yesterday afternoon, Talat’s spokesman Hasan Ercakica told the Cyprus Mail: “I wouldn’t say the 8th of July process has collapsed but it is in danger. The talks are not going as foreseen and we have to get them back on the rails.”
Ercakica said if the discussions between Pertev and Tzonis were not going towards negotiations for a comprehensive solution “its not worth it.”
“We are reviewing among ourselves and foreign missions and the UN how to proceed with the July 8 process,” he said while accusing President Tassos Papadopoulos of manipulation.
On Monday Papadopoulos had not appeared particularly optimistic and blamed the Turkish Cypriot side for a delay in responding to new Greek Cypriot proposals on the talks.
A day later he raised eyebrows by talking of progress in getting the technical and working committees off the ground.
On Wednesday government spokesman Christodoulos Pashiardis said there was no deadlock but there was a serious complication.
He told the Cyprus Mail yesterday: “As I already said there is no shipwreck and no deadlock but we can talk of a complication.”
Talat had warned on Wednesday there was a possibility his side would re-evaluate the July 8 process.
Papadopoulos said in response that he hoped the Turkish Cypriot side’s reassessment would be wise and lead to the implementation of the agreement.
Last week hopes had been high among the international community that the two sides were close to announcing the start of the technical talks but as one observer said yesterday there were “conflicting messages”.
