The two community leaders of Cyprus broke a two-year deadlock in peace talks and agreed Saturday to establish two working committees by the end of July to start discussing ways to resume talks to reunify the island.
This is the third time they are meeting in a week with the arrival of a senior United Nations envoy acting as a catalyst to narrow the wide differences between the Greek and Turkish communities of Cyprus.
Any stalemate is also seen as a stumbling block for Turkey’s aspirations to join the European Union some day, while progress in Cyprus is widely viewed as boosting Ankara’s chances of saving face in Brussels.
UN Undersecretary General Ibrahim Gambari announced a five-point agreement after a three-hour meeting in the UN-controlled area of the abandoned Nicosia airport between Cyprus Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat.
Gambari, who arrived on the island on Thursday to see if there was ground to resume peace talks, said the two leaders agreed to a “commitment towards a unification based on a bizonal, bicommunal federation, based on political equality.”
He said “the present status quo is unacceptable and cannot continue”, clarifying that any settlement would have to be based on UN principles and resolutions.
The status quo is blamed on Turkey’s refusal to withdraw its 35,000-strong garrison in the northern territories of the island it has occupied since invading in 1974, supporting a breakaway statelet there ever since.
But political analysts expect Turkey to show some signs of good will as its European prospects will be reviewed in October when the 25 EU members could halt any accession talks with Ankara if Turkey refuses to implement a Customs union agreement that will recognise Cyprus. It must also allow Cypriot ships and aircraft into its ports and airports.
The UN envoy also said after the Nicosia meeting that the two leaders agreed to begin the process immediately to see how the day-to-day lives of both Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots could be improved, but that this process should also lead to a comprehensive settlement.
The final point, said Gambari, was that the two leaders agreed to a commitment that would include confidence building measures and also to put an end to the “blame game” as regards any delay or stalemate in resolving the three-decades old division.
He said that technical committees will convene by the end of July and at the same time the two leaders would exchange a list of issues to be discussed at such a diplomatic level, while Papadopoulos and Talat also agreed to meet further “as appropriate” in the immediate future.
The agreement follows a meeting in Paris last February between Papadopoulos and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan where the Greek Cypriot leader wanted talks to resume on technical issues, as well as talks that would lead to a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem.
Talat had rejected such talks and wanted the technical committees to start work first and then see if there was any ground to discuss ways leading to a comprehensive settlement, possibly gaining time for Turkey to act until October.
This is the first step that either side is taking towards resuming talks after the UN plan, dubbed the “Annan Plan”, failed to get the support of the Greek Cypriots in a referendum in April 2004, even though the Turkish Cypriot side supported the initiative.
Papadopoulos told reporters when he returned to the Presidential Palace in Nicosia after the meeting that he was content the issues will be discussed as he had wanted them to.
He confirmed that two technical committees will be set up with the prospect of establishing more committees according to the issues commonly agreed to.
One such issue is that of the 1500 or so Greek Cypriots and 600 Turkish Cypriots listed as ‘missing’ since the 1960s and 1974, while international non-governmental organisations have undertaken the exhumation and identification of war graves.
The Greek Cypriot National Council, the president’s advisory body comprising all active political parties, will meet on Friday to review the current situation and agree on the next steps that need to be taken.
But the main opposition Democratic Rally party (DISY), a member of the European Popular Party, must decide if it is to return to the National Council to give it credibility, after it withdrew last December saying the body’s confidentiality was compromised by leaks and misleading information about DISY’s positions.
