By Lefteris Adilinis
The full package of what constitutes the Cyprus problem will be in front of Nicos Anastasiades and Mustafa Akinci on Monday as they start five days of intensive talks at the Mirador Resort in Mont Pelerin, Switzerland.
Well informed sources told the Cyprus Weekly that the territorial issue would be given some priority, but the two negotiating teams will be dealing with all other outstanding issues affecting property, governance, economy and European Union affairs. The leaders and their aides will also have brainstorming sessions on security and guarantees.
Terms of engagement
The primary objective is to reach an understanding or even agreement on criteria for territorial adjustment and then draw maps relevant to each constituent state. Akinci has made it clear that he will not present maps in Switzerland unless Anastasiades agrees to set a date for a multi-party conference to discuss security in the presence of guarantor powers and other international actors.
The Cyprus Weekly understands that President Anastasiades will take part in such a conference only if he sees movement on the following:
• Sufficient progress on the four basic chapters of governance, properties, economy and EU affairs.
• The prospect of bridging differences on the territorial issue.
• An understanding that security and guarantees are close to an agreement.
• An understanding that the peace process to reunite Cyprus will continue irrespective of the outcome of a multi-party conference.
Territory criteria
As mentioned above, territory will be given priority in Switzerland. Well informed diplomatic sources told the Cyprus Weekly that the main objective of the two sides is to agree parameters (what they refer to as criteria) for territorial adjustments. This is not an easy task as the two sides need to bridge very different sets of criteria.
For example, the Turkish Cypriots will aim to water down the following criteria which the Greek Cypriots intend to present, among others, in Le Mirador.
• It is not possible for a community with 20% of the population to occupy 36% of the territory.
• Each constituent state’s coastline should be aligned to its size. In the Annan plan the Greek Cypriot constituent state had 42% of the coastline and the Turkish Cypriot constituent state had 56%.
• Property ownership should be taken into account.
• Morphou and Varosha were mainly populated by Greek Cypriots before the war.
• The territorial maps should accurately reflect the agreed criteria.
Together with territory, the two sides will be also discussing properties, as they are directly interlinked. Up to now, the negotiating teams have discussed properties in areas that will not be returned to the respective communities. In Switzerland there will be an effort to tackle all property aspects, especially those related to territory criteria.