Another Negotiation Process Is Being Wasted
Cyprus EU Association has evaluated the new peace drive opportunity and the behaviour of the parties:
In the press bulletin issued on behalf of the Cyprus EU Association, Mr. Ali Erel stated that; “a new peace drive is on horizon and the negative statements by the representatives who will negotiate on behalf of their respective communities have already begun to attract attention.”
The full text of the press bulletin is as follows:
Process should not be eroded by unnecessary statements:
Mr. Christofias who wanted the referendums to be postponed and finally said that he urges “No” to the plan in order to cement the “Yes”, had promised his coalition partners in order to secure the second round of the presidential elections that, he would not allow the Annan Plan once more to come back to the negotiation table. On the other hand Mr. Talat, in his letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, two days prior to Mr. Christofias’s election, expressed the necessity that the new process should begin with the Annan Plan and he introduced some new criteria. It is clear that; unfortunately the negotiation process is eroded even before even it started.
Overwhelming majority of the Turkish Cypriots accepted the Annan Plan and an even larger percentage of the Greek Cypriots rejected it. Although it might technically be a necessity for the Turkish Cypriots to start the negotiations with this plan, it is equally unacceptable situation from Greek Cypriots’ point of view.
However, the Annan Plan is a product of over thirty years’ efforts. Tens of Security Council Resolutions which formed the legal text of the UN and the international community’s historical accumulations are reflected in this plan. Coupled with the Cyprus’s EU process, EU values and the acquis played an important part during the formulation of this plan. Cyprus is now an EU member. To a great extent, it is impossible to ignore all these years accumulation and similarly, the comprehension “let us begin where we had left” is an equal reflection of a negative mode.
8 July Agreement signed by the representatives of the two communities (the Gambari process) to revitalise the stalemate, has transformed the negotiation principles to a new platform. This agreement now is a UN document and gives reference to all the prior relevant UN Resolutions but not giving any reference to the Annan Plan, is now interpreted differently by the two parties. Mr.Talat by his proposal to Mr. Papadopoullos on 5 September 2007, “there is no need for a preparatory work to start the 8 July process, let us start immediately, we can solve the problem on this platform by the end of the year” had over looked the exclusion of the Annan Plan.
Annan Plan states that; “the Treaty of Establishment, the Treaty of Guarantee, and the Treaty of Alliance remain in force and shall apply”
The insistence on different interpretation of the main principles of the Annan Plan put to the referendum is another factor which will stalemate the new possible peace process. Difference in the interpretation of this text by the representatives of the two communities, which was discussed in detail by the communities for thousands of hours, is diminishing the persuasiveness of the community representatives.
It was made clear at the very first few pages of the plan that the United Cyprus Republic will not be of a “virgin birth” and the new state of affairs will not be between two states, but between the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots.
If the Annan Plan would be accepted, “new state of affairs” would be established and the Treaty of Establishment, the Treaty of Guarantee, and the Treaty of Alliance would remain in force and should apply mutatis mutandis to the new state of affairs is expressed in the English original and the UN official translations in Turkish and Greek.
The letters which would have been sent to the UN, the Council of Europe and EU in the event of an agreement clearly indicates without any diverse interpretation that the Republic of Cyprus will continue by adapting to the new state of affairs. The letter addressed to the UN Secretary General states that “we solemnly declare that henceforth, the membership rights and obligations of Cyprus in the United Nations shall be exercised in accordance with the new state of affairs” and the letter addressed to the European Council President (EU) states “we solemnly declare that the United Cyprus Republic is ready to assume all rights and obligations arising from the Treaty of Accession of 16 April 2003.”
Mr. Talat should not override Turkish Cypriots declared will:
Mr. Talat is expressing his new policies on TV interviews and press statements. He has also sent a letter to the UN Secretary General in this context but finds it necessary to conceal these new Turkish policies from the Turkish Cypriot Community which he represents. If this new policy is as leaked to the press, based on “virgin birth and a new state created by two states” this change of policy should have been shared with the Turkish Cypriot community first and then with the UN Secretary General. These policies are giving the impression that the “no solution, is a solution” policies are once again coming back. Mr. Talat owes an explanation to the Turkish Cypriots.
When cautioned by the Cyprus Peace Platform, nongovernmental organizations (NGO’s) and individuals, as Mr. Dentash used to say “they are parasites, they are trying to dishonour me”, he is showing a similar attitude by expressing “how many are you? no one listens to you, you do not hear what you are saying.” For the benefit of all, Mr. Talat should remember once again that he is only a representative and the community is the “principle”...
The new UN Secretary General has already declared that ”what has been done so far is not encouraging; unless a convincing political will and sufficient effort is not forth coming from both sides, I will not start a new process.” It looks as though both sides are doing their best not to get the UN Secretary Generalinvolved in a new process!
Process should be transparent and the NGO’s should be able to contribute to the process:
To safe guard the possible new peace drive, both communities should exercise vigilance and pursue the negative attitudes closely. We believe that, all those Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot NGO’s and individuals who wish an early solution should join their forces and speak out load against the contradicting expressions and another process being wasted, in order to achieve a solution at the end of this new process. We express our commitment to support any sincere move towards a settlement by the representatives of the two communities, despite the many mistakes done in the past. We also wish to underline that we recognise the approach of the “blame game” and we shall not refrain ourselves from exposing this game whoever takes that avenue.
The European Union and the UN should closely pursue the process, while encouraging the constructive steps, pin point the negative attitudes and announce it publicly. Every effort should be exerted till the end, the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot NGO’s should be allowed to contribute, the process should be transparent and we iterate our insistence on this issue.
Ali Erel - President