STATEMENTS from Turkey at the weekend have put the issue of who will act as the UN’s mediator in resumed Cyprus talks at the centre of the agenda.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday he had asked UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan to appoint a new mediator in any possible resumption of talks. He said the mediator should hail from a country, “which does not take sides politically”, and should be someone who inspires confidence in both sides.
Anann, however, deflected the idea following a meeting with Erdogan in Davos.
“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.
While names are being bandied about in the mainland Turkish press, Ankara has in the past been very clear it does not want Peruvian diplomat Alvaro de Soto back on the job.
De Soto worked intensively for 18 months on the last round of talks, which collapsed in The Hague last March when Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash rejected the Annan plan point blank.
Having spent so much time and effort on the Cyprus issue, De Soto would be the logical choice to see the negotiations through, and speculation was rife late last year that he might return, even though he has since been appointed to the Western Sahara.
Denktash has slammed De Soto on more than one occasion in the past. He said last year the Peruvian diplomat “did not have the capability to understand the Cyprus issue”, had “ignored the realities, did not research the causes of the Cyprus problem, and accepted the Greek Cypriot government’s position to control the whole island”.
“By doing so, he and his team have failed, and lost their credibility,” he said.
Serdar Denktash, The ‘Deputy Prime Minister’ in the north, and son of the Turkish Cypriot leader said on Sunday that the Turkish Cypriot side had a lack of confidence in De Soto, that they did not trust him and would not accept his mediation.
Denktash junior said there had been a difference between De Soto’s statements to the Turkish Cypriot side and Greek Cypriot side in the last round of talks.
“We have announced that we won’t accept De Soto’s mediation due to lack of confidence.”
Two of the names being bandied about in the Turkish press are that of US Secretary of State Colin Powell and James Baker, a former Secretary of State to George Bush senior.
According to Hurriyet, President George W. Bush has turned to Baker many times “behind the scenes” in relation to issues concerning the Middle East, Georgia and Europe. “James Baker is also known as one of the most reliable foot soldiers of the Bush dynasty,” said the paper. “Reliable sources have said that they expect the US administration’s decision in this matter to be formulated by the time Bush meets Erdogan,” it added, referring to the meeting of the two leaders in Washington tomorrow.
Denktash senior yesterday avoided any direct comment on De Soto. “An influential mediator whom the Greek Cypriots can accept is being sought. I hope they will find one and that he will influence the Greek Cypriots,” he said.
The UN mediator is not the only one to have attracted Denktash’s wrath. The Turkish Cypriot leader has also been scathing about Britain’s former special envoy Lord David Hannay, who retired from the Cyprus issue last year.
“Hannay, during his six-year term in office, always considered the Cyprus issue from the point of view of the Greek Cypriots. He kept saying that they would never recognise a separate state and always acted like a snobbish colonial governor, and never wanted to understand what we wanted to say,” Denktash said at the time.
