Cyprus-Forum.com

[joe]

Article below is from the Cyprus weekly. Maybe this article should be posted in the Jokes and Enigmas forum. What do you guys think?
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Football row sinks Tassos-Talat talks

Meeting off

By Menelaos Hadjicostis

A ROW over a controversial football match sunk the highly-anticipated Papadopoulos-Talat meeting that was meant to have breathed new life in the dormant July 8th agreement.

The Cyprus President’s senior aide Tassos Tzionis and the Turkish Cypriot leader’s top adviser Rasit Pertev met for two hours yesterday at UNFICYP HQ to thrash out the details of meeting that was hoped would overcome stubborn hurdles blocking progress.

But Wednesday’s cancelled match between England’s Luton Town and Turkish Cypriot champions Cetinkaya appeared to cast a pall over the Tzionis-Pertev meeting that led to failure.

"It is a very saddening affair to see that the Greek Cypriot administration could not even stand a friendly match between Turkish Cypriots and another team, and did their best at whatever level to stop this event," Pertev said.

"It is not possible to make plans for a meeting between the two leaders under these circumstances."

Government Spokesman Vassilis Palmas confirmed the meeting was off, expressing Nicosia’s hope Talat would "have second thoughts."

Squabble

Palmas said the government had no involvement in cancelling the match and questioned why a squabble over football should wreck a political process.

A UN spokesman told The Cyprus Weekly the world body continues to stand by the July 8 agreement and remains ready to facilitate the process and the two sides.

"We hope it will still be possible to hold a meeting in the near future to move the whole process forward," the spokesman said.

Turkish Cypriots were angered that the Cyprus Football Association would not sanction the friendly in occupied Nicosia.

CFA President Costas Koutsokoumnis said he would have given the friendly the Association’s blessing as long as Cetinkaya bosses would officially ask for permission, something that they failed to do.

But Turkish Cypriot anger over a seemingly trivial football match ruining a crucial deadlock-busting meeting borders on the bizarre.

Insisted

That’s because it was the Turkish Cypriots themselves who insisted they petitioned hardest for it.

Talat said the Turkish Cypriot side had repeatedly called for a face-to-face with Papadopoulos every time problems cropped up in talks.

"We continuously repeated our proposal and reiterated at every level and at every opportunity that the leaders should be actively involved in the process so that it can be successful," said Talat.

If there was ever a time for a Papadopoulos and Talat to meet this appeared to be it as over 50 Tzionis-Pertev meetings over the last year have put the process back "to square one".

Pertev had said numerous snags hampering progress include disagreement on topics technical committees would discuss and whether talks should proceed according to a timetable.

Papadopoulos formally reached out to Talat to a tete-a-tete in a letter conveyed through UN Chief of Mission Michael Moller.

Consented

In a second letter, Papadopoulos offered to meet Talat at the missing persons Anthropological Laboratory inside the buffer zone to discuss progress on the humanitarian issue.

Talat quickly consented to the approval of Papadopoulos who said that it would be a "mistake" to abandon July 8th also known as the Gambari process.

"The Gambari process provides that in case of difficulty, the two leaders would meet to give further impetus. Mr Talat’s statement is very encouraging, at least as I have read it. I hope this doesn’t mean an effort to abandon the process," said Papadopoulos.

News of Papadopoulos’s invite leaked 48 hours after UN Chief Ban Ki-Moon urged both leaders to show "the necessary imagination and political courage" to move beyond procedure and tackle substance.

A US State Department spokesman expressed the Bush administration’s "deep disappointment" at the lack of progress, saying leaders "must be prepared to take risks".

Papadopoulos rejected suggestions the invitation was an election campaign ploy to pander to voters and silence critics.

Scolded

"If it was a campaign (announcement), why didn’t I make it to you? It didn’t leak from us. It leaked from elsewhere, from the United States and I didn’t allow it to leak to the members of the government…in order to avoid this accusation," said Papadopoulos.

But critics scolded Papadopoulos for what they said was a sudden change of heart after steadfastly arguing the pointlessness of a meeting since the Turkish Cypriot leader is countermanded by Ankara that calls the shots.

Presidential hopeful Ioannis Kasoulides said he was mocked for saying that he would pursue a Talat meeting if elected.

Palmas countered that Nicosia never opposed meetings that would have a specific purpose instead of being mere social calls.

A Papadopoulos brainchild, the July 8th agreement is designed to prepare the ground for a return to full-fledged reunification negotiations.

The United Nations, Washington, Moscow, London, Paris and Beijing all endorsed the process the two leaders signed up to in July 2006, calling it the only diplomatic avenue now available to prepare for a return to reunification talks.

The process ground to a halt amid Turkish Cypriot insistence that the committees strictly address "day-to-day matters" like law enforcement cooperation instead of also tackling core issues such as property.

To overcome Turkish Cypriot objections, the Greek Cypriot side proposed a compromise formula under which working groups would be set up to work in tandem with technical committees.

While the technical committees would address day-to-day matters, working groups would grapple with issues closer to the core elements of an overall Cyprus settlement.

Thorny issues, such as property, would be tackled as talks built up enough steam.

To get the ball rolling, the Greek Cypriot proposal suggested that two committees and two working groups begin work right away.

Either side would have the option of deciding discussion topics for one committee and one working group.

[paliometoxo]

yes this was talked about in the other thread if you look but thanks for the post