Talks over future of Cyprus on knife-edge

Date: 16/01/03

By David Cronin and Martin Banks

HOPES for a deal to reunify Cyprus before it joins the EU hinge on whether concessions on land issues will be granted to the Turkish Cypriot administration.

Glafcos Clerides and Rauf Denktash, the Greek and Turkish Cypriot presidents, are due to meet tomorrow (17 January) to discuss a timetable for talks aimed at reaching a settlement on the island's future before a UN-imposed deadline of 28 February. The two ageing leaders had their first face-to-face encounter in more than three months yesterday.

Their negotiations come amid a clamour from the Turkish Cypriot public for a united island. More than 50,000 Turkish Cypriots - one third of their adult population - took part in a pro-unity rally in Nicosia this week, with many calling for Denktash's resignation. A defiant Denktash - whose term as president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) runs for another two-and-a-half years - rebuffed those pleas.

One source close to him claimed the protestors were not aware of pitfalls in the blueprint for Cyprus which Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, issued in November. "They are being manipulated by opposition parties, who are promising all sorts of golden futures in the EU," the source added. "Beyond that, they are not aware of the dangers. Do they accept that 60,000 Greek Cypriots will come to live in this [Turkish Cypriot-controlled] part of the island?"

The focus of the Denktash-Clerides talks is likely to be on a possible modification of the UN blueprint. Under the plan, the island would consist of separate Greek and Turkish Cypriot states but they would be united by various common institutions. Denktash's principal objections to the UN proposal include:

• allowing many of the properties seized from 168,000 Greek Cypriots during the 1974 Turkish invasion to be returned to their former owners;.
• suggested boundary adjustments to the territories dominated by each community; Denktash says this would involve ceding 28 of Turkish Cypriot land to Greek Cypriots, and;
• the idea of having a Greek Cypriot "canton" on the Karpass Peninsula. Located on the island's eastern tip, this is currently part of the TRNC, but is home to a 260-strong Greek Cypriot community.

According to Nicosia sources, Denktash is also pressing to keep a buffer zone between the two proposed states for security reasons. And he is advocating a system whereby members of the two communities would only take part in elections involving their kinfolk, regardless of the part of the island in which they reside.

Meanwhile, the opposition Republican Turkish Party is stepping up calls for Denktash to step down. Serdi Souer, its secretary-general, believes every effort must be made to reunite the island before Cyprus signs an EU accession treaty on 16 April. He regards EU membership of a united island as key to raising living standards in its north, where economic development has been hindered due to an international trade embargo.

Souer, whose party secured 34 of the vote in municipal elections last year, refuted claims that anti-Denktash protestors are ill-informed. "Sixty per cent of our young generation have been educated in universities," he said. "How can you say our people don't understand the Annan plan?"

Cyprus' EU envoy last night called on Denktash to listen to the protestors. Theophilos Theophilou did not explicitly urge Denktash to resign but said: "Mr Denktash does not represent the majority of Turkish Cypriots any more. " Earlier in the week, Theophilou said that prospects for resolving the issue are "better than ever". He argued that compromises will have to be made on both sides.

One Nicosia-based diplomat cited Denktash's "intransigence" as the main barrier to a settlement. "Essentially any time we move forward, he comes back with other things," the diplomat said. "There's a cry of anguish from the Turkish Cypriots, a hard-felt frustration that he is not concerned with the realities they live and deal with on a daily basis."

Hopes for a deal to reunify Cyprus before it joins the EU hinge on whether concessions on land issues will be granted to the Turkish Cypriot administration. Glafcos Clerides and Rauf Denktash, the Greek and Turkish Cypriot presidents, are due to meet on 17 January 2003 to discuss a timetable for talks aimed at reaching a settlement on the island's future.