Cyprus-Forum.com

[halil]

Talat: The head of the Greek Cypriots is not ready for solution. They will take this time: 14 months, 14 years, 140 years.

[Viewpoint]

Talat asked for time frames and Tasos wants open ended negotiations, make up your own minds on who is right or wrong.

[Kikapu]

Talat asked for time frames and Tasos wants open ended negotiations, make up your own minds on who is right or wrong.

Parties disappointed over impasse


PARTY leaders voiced disappointment over the talks impasse and faulted Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat for not honouring his signature on the July 8 agreement.

Akel spokesman Andros Kyprianou said his party feels the messages that emerged from the Papadopoulos-Talat meeting weren’t "what was expected".

He said the party believes the danger is real that the deadlock may not be broken.

"This appears to confirm our assessment that the Cyprus issue is part of a ‘give-and-take’ process between (Turkey’s) military establishment and the Erdogan administration at the expense of a settlement," said Kyprianou.

"Turkey never cast a positive eye on the July 8 agreement which it saw as an obstacle to reviving the Annan Plan."

Akel’s Parliamentary Spokesman Nicos Katsourides said while both sides remain entrenched in their positions, Mehmet Ali Talat wishes to eliminate the July 8 agreement.

Disy President Nicos Anastassiades said disappointment prevailed since the deadlock remains.

He said Talat is trying to evade the terms of the agreement which he himself agreed to.

Assertive

Anastassiades said this proves right his party’s call for an assertive Greek Cypriot policy line because seizing the initiative would aptly demonstrate who shoulder the responsibility for the stalemate.

Diko leader Marios Garoyan said the meeting’s outcome affirms a National Council assessment not to expect much.

He also blamed Talat for going astray from July 8 and lauded Papadopoulos for sticking to his line.

Edek leader Yiannakis Omirou said the impasse again proves that the goal of both Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot side is to clinch a status-upgrade for the illegal regime and to crush the July 8 agreement.

He said Papadopoulos rightly insisted on sticking to the agreement and if the deadlock continues, the Greek Cypriot side should seek recourse to the UN which should apportion blame where it’s due.

European Party (Evroko) leader Demetris Syllouris said it’s time Talat was exposed for his rejectionism, while Deputy Chief Nicos Koutsou said July 8 has now been placed on life support.

Conditions

Cyprus Greens Secretary General George Perdikis blamed Talat for toeing Ankara’s line and trying to wreck the agreement.

Perdikis said the Greek Cypriot side must insist on the implementation of the agreement and called on the international community to pressure Turkey and Talat to live up to their obligations.

"Luckily, President Papadopoulos didn’t consent to the complete destruction of the procedure foreseen by the agreement," said Perdikis.

Former Foreign Minister and presidential candidate Ioannis Kasoulides said the focus should now shift to creating the right conditions abroad that would prevent Turkey from reneging on its signature.

He said if the international community is to take Nicosia seriously, then it’s duty-bound to live up to international agreements.

The only way to achieve that, he said, it to embark on and aggressive diplomatic drive that would afford the Greek Cypriot side the chance to regain the moral high ground.

Kasoulides said he would seek to meet Papadopoulos and be briefed in detail about the failed talks. Oppositely, Turkish Cypriot media lamented the impasse while some blamed Papadopoulos for not agreeing to Talat’s terms.

Biggest-selling Kibris spashed on its front page "Tassos is running away", while Halkin Sesi proclaimed "The end of July 8". MH

http://www.cyprusweekly.com.cy/default. ... wsID=304_1

[Viewpoint]

Any TC newspaper reports? another one side viewpoint.

[Pyrpolizer]

Talat asked for time frames and Tasos wants open ended negotiations, make up your own minds on who is right or wrong.

Time frames are good ONLY if you can have control on the progress.

Can Talat confirm the rate of progress? When he has already refused to even start?

Can't you see all he is looking is for an early impasse?

[halil]

Any TC newspaper reports? another one side viewpoint.

Hopes for progress in Cyprus talks vanish into thin air
Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders remain far apart on ways to restart talks on the reunification of the island after a rare meeting on Wednesday.


Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat and Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos shake hands after their meeting at a UN compound.

"I can't say at the moment if there are mountains, seas or oceans between us," said Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat at a press conference after meeting with Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos on neutral ground in the UN-patrolled buffer zone. "But what I understand is that the Greek Cypriot side is not as enthusiastic as us about comprehensive talks. They are not psychologically prepared for extensive negotiations for a comprehensive solution."Neither Talat nor Papadopoulos addressed the press immediately following their three-and-a-half-hour meeting, spelling out their differences at separate press conferences on home soil afterwards. UN mission chief Michael Moeller, who hosted the meeting at his residence, issued a brief and carefully worded statement praising the "constructive atmosphere" of the talks. But he was unable even to announce a date for a new meeting. The two leaders "agreed to continue their contacts through the United Nations and to meet again when appropriate," Moeller said.

The meeting, the first in 14 months, took place amid low expectations for progress. Analysts feared it could be a mere trick employed by Papadopoulos to boost his credentials as a pro-settlement leader ahead of the elections in Greek Cyprus in February. That image received a serious blow when he successfully pursued an emotional campaign to convince the Greek Cypriots to reject a UN plan to reunite the island in 2004.

Papadopoulos is seeking re-election and is slightly ahead of his two main contenders in opinion polls.

In their respective press conferences, Talat and Papadopoulos revealed that the two sides were far apart on the best way to proceed to resolve the decades-old Cyprus problem. A July 2006 deal outlining a two-track process of discussions on confidence building through technical committess and tackling harder subjects related to the conflict itself was never carried through because of disputes over the agenda.

The Turkish Cypriot side complains about the lack of progress in the committees' work and is pushing for steps to speed up the process of direct negotiations on issues pertaining to a comprehensive settlement.

"We offered a period of intensified preparation process for a speedy settlement at the meeting. Unfortunately, this proposal has not been approved," Talat said. Papadopoulos, on the other hand, favors the establishment of "a few committees to which we can refer the Cyprus problem to," he added. "It is unclear whether this period will be 14 months, 14 years or 140 years." Talat, who led the Turkish Cypriots to support the UN reunification plan in 2004, stated that the Turkish Cypriot side was ready to start full-fledged talks even tomorrow and had gone so far as to propose a timetable to complete the work of the preparatory committees by late November, paving the way for a comprehensive settlement by the end of next year. "But they rejected any time limit," Talat said.

Papadopoulos, on the other hand, made clear that he considered the technical committees foreseen by the July 2006 agreement as vital to preparing the way for effective negotiations on the substantive issues involved in reuniting the island, something which Talat saw as a pretext for a delay. According to the Greek Cypriot leader, Talat wants a "deviation" from what had been agreed in July. "He wants talks to continue immediately without the committees, or for the role of the committees to be limited to a purely technical level of listing the headings to be discussed," Papadopoulos asserted.

He warned that any short-circuiting of the preparatory committees would "not speed up the process but would lead us quickly to the realization that we have reached a deadlock." The failure in Wednesday's talks raises questions on prospects for a settlement in the foreseeable future. Talat, in recent remarks, warned that Cyprus' partition could become permanent.

US reiterates support for settlement efforts

In Washington, US State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said the United States backed efforts aimed at reviving settlement efforts in Cyprus. He said the US administration was pleased to see there are contacts between the two sides and added that Washington, together with rest of the international community, wanted to see a lasting solution found to the deep-seated Cyprus problem. He also reiterated support for UN-led efforts for the reunification of the island, saying that the United States looked forward to seeing these efforts produce an outcome.

[Pyrpolizer]

The next step according to Papadopoulos is to go to the UN, for the refusal of the Turkish side to implement the 8 July agreement which they themselves signed.

[Pyrpolizer]

The UN should play a more active role and tell WHO is applying delaying tactics and who refuses to move forward. This "impartial" attitute just allows everyone to play games. So WHO is playing games this time?

[Kikapu]

EU Parliament presses Turkey



EU Parliament presses Turkey to settle Cyprus on the basis of EU principles


Angelos Marcopoulos

reports from Strasbourg


A DRAFT RESOLUTION placed before the EU Parliament yesterday declared that a Cyprus settlement must be based on respect for EU principles and human rights, in effect rejecting Turkey's position denying the right of the Greek Cypriot refugees to return.

Without naming Turkey, the resolution regretted that ``no substantial progress has been made in finding a comprehensive solution.''

The emphasis on human rights is interpreted as a reply to Turkey's attempts to avoid negotiations on the basis of the UN July 8 agreement that stresses respect for human rights.

"We want to get precise answers," the new EU Rapporteur on Turkey, Mrs Ria Oomen-Ruijten of the Netherlands, said in an exclusive interview with The Cyprus Weekly. She is the author of the resolution that also expressed "regret that no substantial progress has been made in finding a comprehensive solution of the Cyprus' question".

Therefore, MEPs "reiterate their call on both sides to adopt a constructive attitude for a comprehensive settlement," the EU's Rapporteur observed, in reply to my question on the statement by Turkish Prime Minister rejecting "any concessions on Cyprus.''

She added that ``this must be done within he UN framework based on the principles on which the EU is founded.''

This view rejects the recent statement by Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat that ruled a resumption of reunification talks with President Papadopoulos based on the provisions of the UN resolutions on Cyprus that emphasise respect for human rights.

MEPs "expect the new Turkish government to accelerate the process in order to fulfil its commitments to the EU,'' including the lifting of its discrimination against Cyprus-flagged ships and aircraft.

"The purpose of this Resolution is to focus on certain issues and bring them to the attention of the EU Commission, in order to ask her to examine them and search for answers, so that we could get good results on concrete points,'' the EU Rapporteur added.

She also referred to the EU Parliament's 2006 resolution on Turkey, which asked Ankara to start withdrawing its occupation army from the northern part of Cyprus.

She explained that report would be debated by the EU Parliament next month.

The EU Commission is expected to finalise and publish its 2007 report on Turkey's "progress" into fulfilling its commitments in November.

``We can judge the results then,'' observed Oomen-Ruiten.

November is also the month in which French President Nicolas Sarkozy will return to Strasbourg for a debate in the EU Parliament following his recent call to block five core chapters in the EU's negotiations on Turkey's accession.

Meanwhile, the spokesman for the current Portuguese EU Presidency, European Affairs Minister Lobo Antunes, revealed on Wednesday evening in Strasbourg that "this is the appropriate time'' for the assessment of Turkey's compliance with its obligations, mainly on human rights.

"On issues of human rights concerning Turkey it's very clear that the EU will be demanding and firm. There is no doubt about this,'' Antunes warned.

``Matters affecting human rights are of fundamental importance and progress must be made by Turkey as required by the judgements of the European Court,'' he stressed.

"This is part of the short-term priorities in the EU-Turkey Accession Partnership, and therefore will be assessed during the Portuguese EU Presidency," (before December 2007), he revealed.

http://www.cyprusweekly.com.cy/default. ... wsID=304_2

[Viewpoint]

Open ended negotiations can go on forever and in our case will as we have previously experienced. I support Talat for asking for time frames as this will make sure the process produces results and applys pressure on both sides to move forward rather than continue with delaying tactics. You are all falling into the same trap, the only time anything was produced was during the AP process, where both sides worked hard for the result they wanted whether or not you support the end product.