Akıncı to see if there is ‘any prospect of finding a joint way’ forward
PRESIDENT Mustafa Akıncı will see if there is “any prospect of finding a joint way” forward when he meets Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades on Monday, April 16 — the first meeting between the two since peace talks collapsed nine months ago.
The men will have a “social dinner”, which will be hosted by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s deputy special adviser, Elizabeth Spehar, at her residence on the abandoned Nicosia International airport inside the UN buffer zone. “We have not come together for [nine] months as the Turkish and Greek Cypriot sides,” Mr Akıncı told reporters on Thursday following his weekly meeting with Prime Minister Tufan Erhürman.
“Both sides want to overcome the difficulties created as a result of this. If there is a problem, which there is, this dialogue is also needed.”
Mr Akıncı said that the meeting would be “good for both sides” because it would give the leaders a chance to “express our thoughts concerning the future of this island” adding that he would approach it with an “open heart”.
Mr Akıncı, who has insisted since the failure of last summer’s summit in Switzerland that he would not enter into another round of “open-ended talks”, criticised those who had “developed preconceived views” about the meeting.
“There is no reason to belittle it or add more meaning to it,” he stressed. “The most correct evaluation is this: what is our intention from now on, what are we thinking, what framework our points of view will be based upon — this is what we will talk about.” Mr Akıncı said the two sides were “at a juncture”, adding: “Is there a path that we can walk down [together], or is everyone going to go their own way?”
On Sunday Mr Anastasiades was quoted by South Cyprus media as telling an event to commemorate Eoka “heroes” and their “liberation struggle” against British colonial rule in the 1950s, that there was “no agenda” for his meeting with Mr Akıncı.
“The steps to be followed will be assessed,” he said.
His chief negotiator, Andreas Mavroyiannis, said the situation had entered “extra time” and that it would become “difficult” to restart negotiations after the summer. Meanwhile Greek Cypriot press claimed that Turkey had issued a “navtex” — a navigational warning to ships — to stay away from an area 35km south of the Akrotiri peninsula, shortly after the dinner date had been announced. The navtex was in effect for just three hours on Tuesday and covered an area of 6,000m2 near “blocks six and seven” of the Greek Cypriot side’s self-declared exclusive economic zone, the reports said.