‘Peace talks remain alive’

CYPRUS’S two leaders will meet on Friday, after UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres said in a draft report 50-year-old peace talks “remain alive” despite a halt in negotiations since the dramatic collapse of an international summit 15 months ago.

In the document submitted to the UN Security Council on Monday, Mr Guterres said “new ideas may . . . be needed” and he would now ask his temporary envoy, Jane Holl Lute, to undertake a “fact-finding mission” with the aim of “gaug[ing] the true extent of convergences on key issues and the willingness of the sides to incorporate novel proposals as part of an overall solution toward a common future that they themselves can envisage”.

But Mr Guterres warned there was no support for an endless process without results, and failure to resolve the issue was “unsustainable”.

The Security Council is expected to approve the new mission on October 30.

It was revealed yesterday that TRNC President Mustafa Akıncı and Greek Cypriot counterpart, Nicos Anastasiades, would meet on Friday morning at the residence of Mr Guterres’s deputy special adviser, Elizabeth Spehar. Mr Akıncı had said earlier he was keen to speak to Mr Anastasiades about his reported backing for a “loose federation” and “[would] be happy to listen to any new views”.

However, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kudret Özersay was quoted as telling the CNN Türk TV channel this week that Turkish Cypriots could not accept such an approach, which was “in reality” just the Greek Cypriots saying they were “not prepared to share power equally”.

There was broad support for the UN chief’s findings on both sides of the border, despite harsh criticism in the South of his comments over offshore hydrocarbons exploration.

Commenting on his report, Mr Akıncı said it was “plain” that “the principle [is] that a solution will have two founding sides and that there will be political equality”.

He added: “The secretary-general has stated that the status quo in Cyprus is not sustainable and that there is a need for a permanent solution.

“He also refers to the need of having a results-orientated approach . . . which we underline.”

Dr Özersay, who had earlier visited the president, met his Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, in Ankara on Tuesday and told a press conference after their two-hour talks there was “complete agreement” between the TRNC and Turkey “on every issue”.

He said Mr Guterres’s report contained “feet-on-the-ground evaluations”, and noted that it made no reference to a “bizonal, bicommunal, federal solution” — the aim of UN peace missions up to now.

“Firstly, there is a need for the sides, through dialogue, to agree on what is to be negotiated and how. . . which has been emphasised by the secretary-general. Therefore, there has to be a joint vision and joint objective for the future . . . We have always emphasised this very point anyway,” he said.

“Rather than saying negotiations should continue from where they left off, the secretary-general has instead drawn attention to certain obvious conditions [necessary] for the start of negotiations, which we see as realistic.”

Mr Çavuşoğlu said the sides were “at a point of searching for what we can do from now on” after the latest failure to reach agreement in Crans-Montana, Switzerland in July 2017, which he blamed on Greek Cypriot lack of “readiness to live together with the Turkish Cypriots and . . . share equally the economy of the island and political power”.

He pointed out that the Guterres report “did not impose any type of solution model, which is important”, and said fresh negotiations “could be for a federal solution with bizonality or any other solution type — we are open to all ideas”.

He added: “There is no point in our again sitting down at the table to start negotiations for the sake of it.

“It has to be results-orientated and all sides have to predetermine . . . what it is we are negotiating for . . .

“We cannot tolerate another failure.”

Answering questions about his recent New York meeting with Mr Anastasiades, which had led Mr Akıncı to warn of the danger of Turkish Cypriots being “sidelined”, Mr Çavuşoğlu said the contact had followed consultations with TRNC officials and did not constitute recognition of the Greek Cypriotrun state.

Of his talks with Dr Özersay, he said the pair had discussed controversial hydrocarbons exploration in the seas around the island and how to respond to unilateral exploratory and drilling moves by the Greek Cypriots, declaring: “We have told the EU and [the Greek Cypriots], we will not allow [the South’s drilling] to happen.”

Comments in the Guterres report about the controversy, urging the sides to avoid escalating tensions over upcoming drillings, were slammed by the South’s political parties, barring the ruling Disy and main opposition communist party Akel.

Solidarity’s Eleni Theocharous said Mr Guterres had “lost all sense of proportion” and asked: “Since when does the legitimate [gas] exploration of a state generate tension?”

However Greek Cypriot government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou said they were “satisfied” with the report and said: “The secretary-general repeated his set of six parameters for a Cyprus solution and his assertion that the 44-year-long status quo cannot be the final solution.

Turkey cannot flirt with the idea of continuing the status quo in Cyprus after the secretary-general’s statement.”