GC leader ‘refuses’ peace proposal call

GREEK Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades has “refused” to accept a call by President Mustafa Akıncı to agree to peace proposals put forward last year by UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres, it was reported this week — a move described by a senior TRNC source as the “murder” of the peace process.

Mr Anastasiades had repeatedly said he was prepared to use Mr Guterres’s bullet-point plan to unite the island as a blueprint for the resumption of discussions, in the months following the collapse of marathon talks held in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, last summer.

The summit was called to an end by Mr Guterres when it became deadlocked.

Mr Akıncı and Turkey blamed Mr Anastasiades’s “zero troops, zero guarantees” stance for the failure to reach agreement.

On April 30 Mr Akıncı made a surprise move when he threw down the gauntlet to his opposite number to put his signature to the “Guterres framework” as a “strategic agreement” — but the two became embroiled in a dispute over which date of the document was being referred to.

Mr Anastasiades said the move was “positive” if it referred to the “final ver- sion” — including “amendments” from the Greek Cypriot side — dated July 4, 2017, while Mr Akıncı insisted the only acceptable framework was the “undiluted” one presented by Mr Guterres on June 30, 2017.

This week Mr Anastasiades appeared to distance himself all together from the Guterres framework — said to cover issues such as guarantees, property, territory, governance and power sharing — according to Greek Cypriot media reports.

“It is out of the question to accept [the Guterres framework] as a strategic document . . . because it will not allow me to negotiate security issues, which is a solid concern of Cypriot Hellenism,” he was quoted as saying.

He said he wanted to see a “multi-national force” in place of the existing guarantee system.

Mr Anastasiades went further and claimed that the Turkish Cypriot side had developed a policy that would mean a “community with a smaller population would become a privileged society and would . . . control the majority”.

A source close to Mr Akıncı, who did not want to be named, told CyprusToday the remarks of Mr Anastasiades amounted to a “confession” that he had “murdered the peace process”.

Mr Akıncı himself said on Wednesday that the “negative response” of Mr Anastasiades was “concerning for the future of Cyprus but not surprising”.

He added that Mr Anastasiades had “once again refused the political equality concept” and had shown his “preference for the continuation of the status quo on the island”.