By Lefteris Adilinis. Reporting from Geneva
A big day for Cyprus starts today when Turkey, for the first time in the history of the political problem, is expected to officially table its position on the security and guarantees aspects of the Cyprus problem at the international Conference on Cyprus held by the UN in Geneva.
On Wednesday the leaders of the two communities of the island exchanged maps on territorial adjustment for the first time in the longstanding history of the Cyprus problem, but during the three days of talks that started on January 9 at the Palais de Nations, the UN European headquarters in Switzerland, they did not manage to bridge all the differences on issues relating to governance and property.
The Conference is expected to last two or three days but the prospects of a deal are scarce. The prevalent view is that the summit will be a dress rehearsal, where positions will be tabled and the sides will know where they stand and what needs to be done to reach a comprehensive settlement. Work is expected to continue in Cyprus, before at least one more high-level conference is convened in Geneva or elsewhere.
The foreign ministers of guarantor powers Turkey, Greece and Britain will be present at around 11.00 in the UN building for the start of the Conference. Greek FM Nicos Kotzias will be accompanied by his deputy, George Katrougalos, and by the head of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ diplomatic office, Vaggelis Kalpadakis.
British FM Boris Johnson, who was expected in Geneva on Thursday morning, will be accompanied by the EU affairs minister, Sir Alan Duncan. Turkey’s FM Mevlut Cavusoglu arrived in Geneva on Wednesday evening. There was no indication of who would be with him at the conference.
At the table, in addition to President Anastasiades, Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci and UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, there will also be the President of EU Commission, Jean Claude Juncker, and the EU’s effective FM, Federica Mogherini. EU officials will be participating as observers with a special role.
In another development, the two sides exchanged maps on territorial adjustment on Wednesday in Geneva for the first time in the history of the Cyprus problem. The maps were within the parameters agreed in a previous meeting between Anastasiades and Akinci at the Swiss resort of Mont Pelerin, where talks were held during two different sessions last November.
The Cyprus Weekly/in-cyprus.com understands that the Turkish Cypriot map was deemed as unsatisfactory by President Anastasiades, who filed a complaint with the UN. The Greek Cypriot side played down this development, which most likely took place to appease Anastasiades’ critics within the Greek Cypriot community.
While the leaders were engaged in discussing territory, the negotiators Andreas Mavroyiannis and Ozdil Nami met with experts to discuss outstanding issues on governance.
Sticking points during the three days of talks were issues of effective participation in the federal government, where Turkish Cypriots want to be on an equal footing in all state bodies, and the deadlock-breaking mechanism.
Mavroyiannis had tabled a new proposal on the issue on Tuesday but during Wednesday’s talks there was no progress. The two sides found also very difficult the discussions on the treatment of Turkish nationals after the solution. The Turkish Cypriots argue that Turkish nationals should be treated in the same way as people from Greece residing in a federal Cyprus.
No progress was registered either during separate working group discussions on property. All outstanding issues will be tackled again in Cyprus. Diplomatic sources pointed out that, without a concrete understanding on territory, no property issues can be resolved. At the same time there could be no breakthrough on governance before the two sides tackle the Turkish Cypriot request for a system of rotating presidency.
We understand that Akinci had proposed to Anastasiades that he could produce an improved map on territory if the Greek Cypriots agree to a rotating-presidency executive. The same source pointed out that during this last mile of Cyprus problem, discussions on aspects of governance, property and territory are intertwined and none of them could be solved independently.
