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Talat keen to meet Papadopoulos
By Stefanos Evripidou


Invitation to meet either Papadopoulos or Christofias on either side of Green Line

TURKISH CYPRIOT ‘prime minister’ Mehmet Ali Talat yesterday extended an invitation to meet President Tassos Papadopoulos and AKEL leader Demetris Christofias and on either side of the island, while accusing Papadopoulos of stalling a solution.

Talat also called on Papadopoulos to make known what changes he wanted to the Annan plan. For its part, the government clarified that it saw no need for the President to meet Talat at this point, saying that the latter was responsible for obstructing trade between the two sides.

Responding to a call by Christofias to meet, Talat told CyBC yesterday that he was prepared to meet Christofias on either side of the Green Line, adding that the authorities in the occupied areas would waive any passport checks if he did decide to go north.

Asked whether the AKEL leader would need to show ID if he crossed the dividing line, Talat said arrangements could be made to skip the formalities.

“This is not an issue. Anytime he wants, we have to find the most suitable arrangement to meet. I can go there, he can come here.”

He extended the invite to Papadopoulos, noting that the two had much to discuss other than the Annan plan, including trade, new crossing points, opening a Turkish Cypriot school in Limassol and solving practical problems like those that came up after the triple homicide of a Turkish Cypriot family in the south.

Talat expressed concern that Papadopoulos was not sincere in his search for a genuine solution to the Cyprus problem.

“I have the idea, maybe I am wrong, I wish I am wrong, that Mr Papadopoulos is trying to use the comfort of being a member of the EU, and his position generally, and doesn’t want to share power with the Turkish Cypriots. This is the problem.”

The ‘prime minister’ said his side would be ready to respond to a new initiative on the Cyprus problem after elections in the north. Asked if he would also be prepared to discuss changes to the Annan plan, he replied: “Yes but what? We don’t know anything. Something is going around, some rumours, whispering into each other’s ears etc, but nothing concrete, I don’t know anything. There is no concrete proposal. We have to see it.”

He warned that if a solution was not found soon, reunification of the island might never happen.

“In fact if we can’t reach an early solution, it might be very difficult to ultimately reach a solution in the future. There is a danger,” he said.

Talat ruled out the return of the fenced off area of Varosha to the Greek Cypriots before the start of a new initiative.

“This is not very logical because in a way it will curb the incentive of Greek Cypriots to want a solution. Confidence building is something else. Giving Varosha is not confidence building.”

Meanwhile, Government Spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said earlier in the day that there was no reason, at this stage, for Papadopoulos and Talat to meet, especially given the latter’s negative stance towards the implementation of measures that would help cooperation and understanding between the two sides.

The spokesman accused Talat of preventing economic cooperation between the two communities in a bid to obtain political gains.

He added that the government was prepared to begin talks within the UN framework provided the right foundations were in place to secure a successful outcome.

Chrysostomides highlighted that the government had done everything possible to facilitate cooperation and commercial exchanges on the basis of the EU Green Line regulation.

The spokesman hinted that Talat provided obstacles to the trade, while prevented the Turkish Cypriots from accessing 259 million euros in aid by insisting on direct trade.

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Tassos: I’ve got better things to do than feed Talat’s PR
By George Psyllides


THE Greek Cypriot side is ready for talks to resolve the Cyprus problem under the auspices of the UN secretary-general, President Tassos Papadopoulos said yesterday.
But Papadopoulos did not seem impressed by the readiness expressed by Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Mehmet Ali Talat to meet him.

“Every meeting is useful and friendly but when it is used for political reasons, I think I have other responsibilities to think of other than Mr Talat’s public relations,” Papadopoulos said.

Talat suggested the two men should meet to discuss issues other than the Annan plan for a settlement of the Cyprus problem, such as trade and the establishment of a Turkish Cypriot school in Limassol’s Turkish quarter.

“We decided on a Turkish Cypriot school a long time go, we did not need Mr Talat to indicate it,” Papadopoulos said.

Trade issues were being examined by the EU, he added.

“On talks we are ready, under the auspices, however, of the UN Secretary-general, I repeat, the UN Secretary-general,” the president said.

Earlier, Government Spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said the president was ready to take part in a new negotiating process to reach a settlement.

The spokesman stressed that contacts between parties of both communities helped to create a climate of co-operation and understanding and promote a settlement of the Cyprus problem.

House president and AKEL general secretary Demetris Christofias described Talat’s readiness as a positive message that he hoped would become reality.

Regarding the possibility of a meeting between Papadopoulos and Talat, Christofias suggested there were certain steps that needed to be taken before people could speak of such a thing.

Christofias reaffirmed his readiness to meet Talat as soon as possible, saying it would be a positive step forward.

At the same time, Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, increasingly sidelined in recent months, yesterday criticised everyone, including Turkey, for inviting UN Seceretary-general Kofi Annan to undertake a new initiative in the Cyprus issue.

Denktash said no one had the right to deceive Annan, whom he described as the most conscientious Secretary-general he ever worked with.

Denktash said there was no solution in the problem because the Greek Cypriot side did not stop saying it was the legal government of Cyprus and trying to make the world believe it.

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What’s Tassos playing at?


TASSOS Papadopoulos does not want to meet Mehmet Ali Talat at this stage of the process. The government line is that such meetings serve no purpose in the current context, and that contacts should only be resumed within the formal framework of the UN Secretary-general’s good offices mission.

The government has repeated this line often enough for us all to be familiar with it. Indeed, few would have expected the president suddenly to turn round and accept Talat’s invitation for a cup of coffee and a fireside chat.

But was it necessary to couch his rejection in such contemptuous tones? “Every meeting is useful and friendly, but when it is used for political reasons, I think I have other responsibilities to think of than Mr Talat’s public relations.”

Wouldn’t a simple but polite rejection have been enough? Did he have to say he had better things to do than meet Talat, pouring scorn on the motives of the Turkish Cypriot leadership? Did he have to respond to Talat’s request to discuss the opening of a Turkish Cypriot school in Limassol by saying the matter had already been considered and “we didn’t need Mr Talat to point it out to us”?

Like it or not, Mehmet Ali Talat will at some stage be our interlocutor at the reunification talks we insist we still desire. If things go well and we reach the positive outcome we insist that we desire, Mehmet Ali Talat will be more than an interlocutor, he will be a partner in a common future. So why are we deliberately seeking to belittle him?

Either our language of contempt for all things ‘official’ on the other side has become so engrained that we cannot see the damage it can do, or we have lost sight of our proclaimed objective, caring more about scoring cheap points against the other side than achieving the reunification we claim to want. At a time when new talks are a real possibility, such gratuitously offensive language can only damage the prospects for their success. It is as harmful as it is unnecessary.