Esra Aygin
In a new opportunity seen widely
as the best in a decade and probably the last, Turkish Cypriot Leader Mustafa
Akıncı and Greek Cypriot Leader Nicos Anastasiades are scheduled to meet today
to resume negotiations for the comprehensive solution of the Cyprus
problem.
The new pro-solution
Turkish Cypriot leader Akıncı, together with his team headed by the experienced and
knowledgeable negotiator Özdil Nami, is planning a very
well-structured and intense process. According to sources, The Turkish Cypriot
side aims to achieve substantial results by the third week of September, when
the UN General Assembly will be held. The rationale behind this is to create
the opportunity for the thorniest or most difficult issues to be taken up
during the UN General Assembly in New York. To this end, Akıncı, who has stated
that he prefers to deal with issues personally in direct, face-to-face meetings
with Anastasiades, is expected propose that the leaders meet at least once every
two weeks, while the leaders’ negotiators engage in a more frequent meeting
schedule.
It is widely acknowledged
that a failure in this round of negotiations between Akıncı – who won the
Turkish Cypriot community’s overwhelming support for his vision for a federal solution
on the island, and Anastasiades – who, taking a big political risk against all
odds advocated a ‘yes’ vote for the Annan Plan in 2004 - would spell an end for
hopes of any kind of federal solution. And there are clear indications that the
international community, including the United Nations, would not be as willing
to - let alone investing so much energy, time and money – get involved in any
kind of dialogue between the sides beyond that point. Therefore, Akıncı and
Anastasiades have on their shoulders a historic responsibility, which will determine the future of the
island.
The sides - in an effort to create a common
ground and vision for negotiations - are expected to spend the first couple of
weeks into the process to review the progress made so far in negotiations
carried out under the auspices of the UN Good Offices Mission. The guiding
document will be 11 February 2014 Joint Communiqué, which sets out the
framework for a federal solution on the island. Considering the fact that both
the Turkish Cypriot and the Greek Cypriot side have submitted proposals that
were not in line with the 11 February document over the last year, this
exercise would help the sides to adopt positions compatible with the spirit of the
Joint Communiqué.
Efforts on confidence
building measures (CBMs) – especially ones that would contribute to and improve the daily
lives of Cypriots on both sides of the island – are also expected to start
immediately. The Turkish Cypriot side wants to first take up and solve, in a
matter of a couple of weeks, the problem of interconnectivity, therefore enabling
mobile phones to be used throughout the island through a roaming agreement.
Other CBMs to be agreed upon by the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot leader –
such as introducing new crossing points or starting preparatory work for the
opening of closed-off Varosha under UN supervision and the use of Famagusta
Port and Ercan Airport for direct trade and flights - will most probably be taken
up by technical teams in a parallel process to negotiations.
Nevertheless, Akıncı has
been very specific in underlining in a couple of occasions that he will be
careful not to focus on CBMs at the expense of comprehensive solution
negotiations saying “All confidence building measures should be viewed as a
catalyzing factor for the comprehensive solution.”
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