Ankara is willing to allow UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan to “fill in the blanks” on unresolved issues in his Cyprus solution plan, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday.
In what is being viewed as a major breakthrough, Erdogan told a news conference after talks with Annan at the World Economic Forum in Davos, that Ankara was prepared to allow the UN chief to “fill in the blanks” on unresolved issues.
“If the Greek Cypriot administration in the south accepts the Secretary-general to fill in the blanks, then we as a guarantee country, as far as Turkey is concerned, would accept him to do that,” Erdogan told the news conference. The unresolved aspects of the plan centre on the thorny issues of territory, property, distribution of powers and security.
But he said he would prefer the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders to settle all outstanding issues without leaving blanks.
Government spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides refused yesterday afternoon to comment on Erdogan’s latest statements.
Erdogan also said that the Turkish Cypriot side was ready to hold a referendum in order to secure an understanding between the two sides so that “the Turks of northern Cyprus will not lag behind the Greek Cypriots and will always take the lead to this end”.
He said he had asked Annan to appoint a mediator from a country “which does not take sides politically”. “This mediator, who will pursue the issue from beginning to end, should inspire confidence in both sides,” he said.
Annan told reporters he was encouraged by Turkey’s willingness to see the talks resume but he stopped short of saying Ankara had met his conditions for reviving negotiations, and deflected the idea of a new mediator. “I have indicated that my good offices are still open if the parties were to declare the will and to demonstrate the will to want a settlement,” Annan told reporters.
“I have always had a very good facilitator working with me. We have been assisted in the past by representatives of several governments, notably the United Kingdom and the United States. And of course, if we were to resume the efforts, I would want to continue with a good facilitator and accept support from all countries that are interested in the process,” he said.
Former Cyprus special envoy Alvaro de Soto, who chaired the negotiations that ultimately crumbled at the Hague nearly a year ago, is not popular with the Turkish side, which has accused him of representing the position of the Greek Cypriots. Diplomats told Reuters that Erdogan’s call yesterday for a new mediator appeared aimed at sidelining De Soto
“My wish is that, by speeding up this process, a solution to the Cyprus issue will be secured before 1 May because we do not want to go beyond this date with any obstacles that could be posed or new reasons put forward. We seek to have this issue concluded before 1 May,” said Erdogan referring to Cyprus` EU accession date.
Turkey has been repeatedly told by the EU it must make progress on the Cyprus issue if it wants to secure a date for accession talks in December.
After the Hague debacle, Annan said he would not call for a resumption of talks unless there was political will on both sides and a commitment to hold a referendum.
Commenting on this Erdogan said there was no precondition for a referendum. “There is no such a precondition for a referendum. The referendum will, of course, be held on the memorandum of understanding (MOU). That is, there will be an agreed document. We wish, therefore, that a MOU be secured after the positive meetings between the two leaders. We hope that this MOU will be submitted to a referendum before 1 May. I say once again on this point that the Turks of northern Cyprus will always take the lead to this end,” Erdogan said.
