Cyprus-Forum.com

[Kikapu]

Published: March 22 2008 02:00


Resurrection of Cyprus talks raises peace hopes

By Kerin Hope in Athens and Vincent Boland in Ankara

Prospects for a peace settlement in Cyprus brightened yesterday when the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders agreed to relaunch substantive talks after a four-year gap.

At a meeting in Nicosia, Demetris Christofias and Mehmet Ali Talat undertook to meet in three months' time for "full-fledged" negotiations under United Nations auspices, according to a joint statement.

Acknowledging that the negotiations would not be open-ended, Mr Christofias, the newly elected president of Greek Cypriots, said he would do his best "to reach an agreed solution for the interest of the Cypriot people, both communities, as quickly as possible".

Mr Talat, president of the self-declared Turkish Cypriot republic in the north, is un-der pressure to secure European Union membership for his community. He aimed at "a comprehensive solution as soon as possible".

The leaders also agreed to open a border crossing on Ledra Street in the centre of Nicosia as a symbolic gesture of reconciliation. Further measures, including the opening of more crossing points, are expected to be agreed on before the talks.

Eleni Mavrou, mayor of the Greek Cypriot side of Nicosia, said the crossing would open next month after several "technical issues" were resolved. These include delineating the border with the help of UN peacekeepers, restoring electricity and repairing derelict buildings in a "no-man's-land" section.

The reopening will also require that the Turkish army, which has a visible presence at the proposed crossing point, be removed from sight. This has been a sticking point up till now, although observers in Ankara said the army high command would almost certainly be ready to co-operate.

The presence of more than 30,000 Turkish troops, based in north Cyprus, is perhaps the biggest obstacle to any permanent settlement.

The Turkish government declined to make any comment, although diplomats said it was fully behind any initiatives taken by Mr Talat. The Turkish armed forces chief is next week due to make his first visit to north Cyprus since his appointment two years ago.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish forces invaded the north after an Athens-inspired coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece.

The Greek Cypriots' rejection of a UN reunification plan in 2004, two weeks before EU accession, meant Turkish Cypriots were excluded from membership.

Olli Rehn, EU enlargement commissioner, congratulated the leaders "on the important symbolic decision to open the Ledra Street crossing 44 years after it was clo-sed". He added: "I look forward to walking across the green line at Ledra Street myself in the near future."

Additional reporting by Andreas Hadjipapas in Nicosia
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a56a8b0a-f7b1 ... 07658.html

[Kikapu]

Friday, 21 March 2008, 20:07 GMT

Cyprus peace back on the agenda

By Tabitha Morgan
BBC News, Nicosia

The diplomatic wheels are suddenly turning again in Cyprus
Seldom can Cyprus have witnessed such a swift mood swing.

A month ago, ahead of presidential elections, many people were predicting more years of diplomatic inactivity.

Now Cypriots face the prospect of a new round of substantive talks, beginning in three months' time.

What seemed impossible four weeks ago suddenly seems possible.

The difference came with the victory of Demetris Christofias in the presidential election.

He said right away that he wanted to meet Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat to start talks aimed at reunifying the island.

The diplomatic wheels, motionless for years, began to move fast.

We want to underline what we agree on, not what we disagree on

The result was Friday's three-hour meeting at the official residence of the United Nations' representative on the island, Michael Moller.

President Christofias and Mr Talat, both leaders of left-wing parties, have known each other for a long time.

Their body language before and after the meeting indicated a rapport that has been absent between senior representatives of the two communities for some years.

The atmosphere was "very positive and cordial" during the meeting, according to Mr Moller, while the talks were businesslike.

The two men agreed to set up working groups and technical committees to prepare the agenda for substantive talks later in the year.

'A new era'

When the meeting ended, it was immediately clear that the leaders were happy with the way things had gone.

"We have agreed to work together in good will. We want to underline what we agree on, not what we disagree on," Mr Christofias said.

Ledra Street in Nicosia has been cut in two since the 1960s

Mr Talat spoke of "a new era" in relations between the two communities, adding that he and Mr Christofias were "starting for a solution of the Cyprus problem".

The widely expected announcement to reopen Ledra Street was intended to foster reconciliation and encourage a positive climate for the forthcoming negotiations.

Ledra Street, in the middle of the old walled city of Nicosia, has been cut in two since the 1960s, when violence erupted between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities.

Before the thoroughfare was blocked in the middle, with military posts on either side of the line dividing Nicosia, Ledra Street was at the centre of the island's leading shopping district. But its fortunes declined with the division of the capital.

Plans to reopen Ledra Street were rejected by President Christofias' predecessor, Tassos Papadopoulos.

Good omen

The fact that an agreement has been reached on this issue a month into the new presidency is an indication of how the mood in Cyprus has changed.

When Greek Cypriots overwhelmingly rejected the UN-sponsored plan to reunite Cyprus in 2004, many observers felt the chance for a solution to the island's problems had gone for ever.


UN peacekeeping troops arrived on Cyprus in 1964

Now, while many obstacles remain, there is hope once more that an agreement might be reached.

British High Commissioner Peter Millett said Friday's meeting provided "a clear sign that the two leaders have the political will to tackle the issues and work for a solution".

Finding that solution is expected to be a difficult process.

Issues such as the return of refugees, the presence of the Turkish army and Turkish settlers in the north of the island, and the control of territory have sunk previous diplomatic initiatives.

But on this occasion the two main actors appear to be reading from the same script.

So if goodwill is a key factor for success, then this latest round of talks should have more chance than many previous ones.


Perhaps the best omen ahead of Friday's first meeting at the UN residence came in a quip from President Christofias as he walked towards the entrance.

Asked by a reporter whether he would be drinking Greek or Turkish coffee during the discussions he replied: "Cypriot coffee, we will both be having Cypriot coffee."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7308912.stm

[Kikapu]

ReutersPublished: March 22, 2008


Cypriots to remove barricades in landmark deal

By Michele Kambas and Simon Bahceli


NICOSIA: Rival sides on divided Cyprus were preparing to dismantle a poignant symbol of half a century of division in a move diplomats hope will improve the climate for new peace talks.

Greek and Turkish Cypriot authorities said they would start work from Monday, removing a barrier from the main commercial district of Nicosia that has split the United Nations-patrolled medieval city into two since 1958.

"If everything goes to plan we could expect the road to reopen March 31, or possibly April 2 or 3," Greek Cypriot town mayor Eleni Mavrou told Reuters.

On the northern side, Turkish Cypriot mayor Cemal Bulutoglulari said: "As far as we are concerned we are ready."

Removal of the barricade on Ledra Street is part of a landmark deal brokered on Friday between Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat to resume peace negotiations within three months.

It was their first meeting since Christofias was elected to the Cypriot presidency last month on a pledge of pushing for reunification. Peace talks stalled in 2004 when Greek Cypriots rejected a U.N. settlement blueprint accepted by Turkish Cypriots.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded in response to a brief coup carried out by Greek-Cypriot extremists at the urging of the military then ruling Greece. The island is represented in the European Union by its Greek Cypriots, who can block Turkey's own hopes of joining the bloc for as long as a peace deal is elusive.

Nicosia, a city of about 250,000, has long suffered under partition. Its bustling Greek and Turkish Cypriot commercial sectors are separated by a no-man's-land of booby traps, empty shops and abandoned homes.

Ledra Street, which runs across the dividing line, is now guarded by soldiers on opposing sides, separated by an 80-metre buffer zone of decaying buildings overgrown with weeds and overrun by rats.

The European Commission has allocated 100,000 euros to open the crossing. United Nations land mine removal teams were expected in the area from Monday.

(Editing by Giles Elgood)

http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/200 ... OSSING.php

[Kikapu]

The Associated PressPublished: March 23, 2008

Cypriots are offered a chance to grieve for victims of conflict


NICOSIA: The final act in dozens of human tragedies from this divided island's troubled past is unfolding in a clinical room with four tables draped in white sheets.

Here, in the buffer zone separating Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities, families will get a first glimpse of relatives who vanished in fighting in the 1960s and 1970s, their hastily dug graves lost in the fog of postwar politics.

"We've had instances where children who hadn't been born when their father disappeared see him for the first time as a skeleton," said Elias Georgiades, the Greek Cypriot member of a committee that is responsible for uncovering the fate of hundreds of missing Greek and Turkish Cypriots.

An international forensics team is carrying out the actual search for approximately 1,500 Greek Cypriots and 500 Turkish Cypriots who are listed as missing. To date, the exhumation and identification program has unearthed the remains of 379 missing people.

The disappearances began in 1964 at the onset of intercommunal violence. They culminated in 1974 when Turkey invaded in response to a failed coup by supporters of union with Greece. Many died in battle; others were victims of revenge killings, buried in unmarked graves undisturbed for decades until long-suppressed information guided anthropologists to them.

The new facility, inaugurated this week in the no man's land that cuts across the island's capital, Nicosia, will allow scores of families from both sides to see recently unearthed remains of a relative for the first time in decades.

"This is a place where a lot of emotion will unfold," said Christophe Girod, the committee's UN-appointed member.

Until now, viewings of remains were held in a cramped office that was once part of the old airport's installations.

Since July, the families of 57 Greek Cypriots and 26 Turkish Cypriots have viewed the identified remains of their relatives.

Remains first undergo laboratory analysis before DNA testing to identify them. Then, families are called in.

At one recent viewing, an elderly grieving woman caressed the skull of her husband, weeping softly as she kissed his jaw bone. The Greek Cypriot man had vanished in 1974, after being taken from his home late one summer evening, his relatives said. They asked that neither they nor the man be identified.

His remains were found in a shallow grave in the northeastern Karpass Peninsula alongside those of 11 others. He was handcuffed to another body lying beside him.

Forensic scientists said they could not determine the exact cause of death. But in his relatives' minds, there was little doubt: His skull was fractured and he had a bullet hole in his shoulder blade.

The black-clad relatives viewed the skeletal remains with quiet resignation.

"After so many years, we expected this," said one of the man's three daughters.

One relative lit incense to waft over the remains in accordance with Orthodox Christian custom. His children said that at least this time, their father would receive a proper burial.

There was a palpable sense of relief at the end of the viewing. The relatives embraced the staff and expressed their gratitude, some even managing to smile.

Families take custody of the remains a day or so later after signing release papers.

Officials say such viewings have a ceremonial quality to impart a sense of closure. Relatives are first ushered into a sitting room where experts involved in the exhumation and identification process field questions and offer emotional support.

They are then guided into an adjacent viewing area where the remains are neatly arranged on a table. Clothing and other items such as keepsakes and pocket change found at the burial site are displayed nearby.

"The families cry, they shout, they kneel, they kiss the bones, they touch them," Georgiades said, adding: "They demand the truth, the whole truth."

"These are sacred moments for the relatives," he said. "They imagine the last days, hours and moments of the skeleton that lies before them."

The exhumation program is seen as a way to heal a festering wound that has long impeded reconciliation between the two estranged communities, as efforts to reunify the island remain stalemated.

The program has raised about €3.37 million, or $5.33 million, in donations to carry on its work through 2008, with an estimated five years remaining for completion.

"Without closure the pain and anguish of these families remains," said the U.S. ambassador, Ronald Schlicher.

That is why the exhumation work is so important, "not only to the families themselves, but also to the future of the island," he added.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/23/ ... cyprus.php

[bill cobbett]

It's all so sad.

[Kikapu]

History poses challenge to talk of unity

By Andrew Borowiec
March 24, 2008

NICOSIA, Cyprus — After routine diplomatic congratulations on an agreement last week for talks between the two Cypriot communities, a more somber side of the deadlock has emerged.

The list of issues is so daunting that it has thwarted all previous negotiating efforts.

The protagonists, Greek and Turkish Cypriots, disagree even on their nationality. Some say the island in the eastern Mediterranean has no Cypriot nation but only Greeks and Turks living there.

Cypriots are divided by religion, language and loyalty to two Mediterranean foes: Turkey and Greece.

Even in the best of times, the ethnic groups have never lived together, but side by side. Intermarriage was rare and social contacts were superficial and strained. In mixed villages, each community had its own leader and its own rules.

The separation was institutionalized by a massive flight of Greek Cypriots from areas seized by the Turkish army in 1974 and the resettlement of the Turkish Cypriot minority in the northern part of the island.

Thus for the past 34 years, two separate economies, educational systems and other institutions have developed.

Such is the history that Presidents Demetris Christofias of the Greek Cypriots and Mehmet Ali Talat of the Turkish Cypriots faced Friday when they pledged to unite the disparate ethnic components.

Their short-term objectives and decisions were limited: to meet again after three months, establish technical committees and open a pedestrian crossing in the heart of the divided capital. The removal of barricades and the securing of adjacent gutted houses could take time.

"It's hard to see what more could have been done," one diplomat said.

Said another foreign envoy: "They couldn't really do less without sinking the talks."

One of Mr. Christofias' objectives is to negotiate the withdrawal of the 35,000-strong Turkish garrison from northern Cyprus, or at least a part of it.

That electoral pledge is unlikely to be fulfilled. Ankara has announced its opposition as well as a refusal to negotiate with the Greek Cypriot government, which it does not recognize, and the Turkish Cypriots are in no position to discuss Turkish military matters with Greek Cypriots.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbc ... /home.html

[Kikapu]

The Associated PressPublished: March 24, 2008

Cyprus cuts water supply to homes amid prolonged drought


NICOSIA, Cyprus: Authorities on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus announced Monday that they were immediately reducing the water supply to people's homes to cope with a "dramatic" drought that has left dams nearly empty.

Government Spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said supply cuts of 30 percent were a "necessary measure" in light of a 17 million cubic meter (600 million cubic feet) shortfall in water reserves.

The island needs 66.7 million cubic meters (2.35 billion cubic feet) a year to cover its needs.

"We've initiated a number of measures to tackle the truly dramatic situation we're facing," Stefanou told reporters.

Stefanou said the government would reduce by almost a third the supply to local water boards that distribute water to homes. The cuts will take effect at once.

Other measures include the construction of pipelines to feed local reservoirs with water that will be shipped from Greece in tankers five months from now.

Authorities also plan to double the daily output from a desalination plant now being built, to 40,000 cubic meters (1.4 million cubic feet) by October. Cyprus already has two operating desalination plants with a combined daily output of 92,000 cubic meters (3.2 million cubic feet) and the government will look into using more portable units.

Stefanou said officials will bore more into the island's water table. A water conservation campaign will also be stepped up.

Meanwhile, officials will draw up a long-term strategy to help the island effectively deal with chronic shortages caused by its heavy dependence on rainfall.

Capacity at the island's dams now stands at just over 10 percent — 2.5 times less than their capacity at this time last year. Compounding the lack of rain are record-setting temperatures for March that reached Monday to 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 Fahrenheit), officials told state television.

The drought has also hit Turkish Cypriots in northern third of the divided island. Turkish Cypriot official Mustafa Guclu said no water restrictions have been announced yet, but they are likely because of the seriousness of the drought.

Cyprus was split into an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south and a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north in 1974 when Turkey invaded in response to a short-lived coup by supporters of uniting the island with Greece.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/ ... ortage.php

[Kikapu]

The Associated PressPublished: March 24, 2008


UN chief welcomes Cypriot leaders' agreement to restart peace talks on reunifying island


UNITED NATIONS: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is warmly welcoming the decision by the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders to restart peace talks on reunifying the divided Mediterranean island.

He congratulated Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat on the outcome of their meeting on Friday.

The two leaders agreed to open a crossing in the heart of the divided capital. They also agreed to set up a number of working groups and to meet again in three months to review their work and start full-fledged negotiations under U.N. auspices.

U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said Monday "the United Nations stands ready to lend its full support to the Cypriot people in their efforts to reach a settlement."

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/ ... Cyprus.php

[Kikapu]

Published: March 26 2008 01:20

Cyprus lays to rest ghosts of the disappeared

By Kerin Hope


Mustafa Tolga recognised his elder brother’s remains from the shape of his skull and a damaged tooth.

The retired Turkish Cypriot official wept after describing how family members went to a United Nations facility at the former Nicosia airport last year to view the remains.

“I didn’t cry when Ozman went missing, but when I saw his bones laid out on a white cloth on a laboratory table I was overcome with grief,” said Mr Tolga.

His brother, a farmer, was taken prisoner by Greek Cypriots during a skirmish on July 20 1974, a few hours after Turkish troops invaded Cyprus in the wake of a coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece.

A total of 1,468 Greek Cypriots and 502 Turkish Cypriots are listed as having disappeared between 1963 – when inter-communal violence erupted – and 1974.

Resolving the issue of the disappeared became a priority after 2003, when a holiday-home construction boom began on the divided island, threatening to obliterate the sites of several mass graves.

A UN-backed effort to locate, exhume, identify and return the remains of the missing to their families was launched 18 months ago, with the support of Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders.

Retired police officers working under the auspices of a missing persons committee, comprising a UN official and members of the two communities, have tried to locate the mass graves. The project has so far exhumed the remains of almost 400 people and identified more than 80. Financed by the European Union and bilateral donors, it is modelled on an Argentinian practice developed in the search for thousands who disappeared in that country’s so-called dirty war from 1976-83.

Christophe Girod, the UN-appointed member of the committee, said it aimed to provide closure for families unable to accept that a missing relative would never return. “It is a humanitarian project with a limited mandate. It’s about identification – not finding out the cause of death,” said Mr Girod.

Ozman Tolga’s remains, and those of another 12 people missing from the same village, were found in a mass grave in the Greek Cypriot south. They were reburied last December in the Turkish Cypriot north.

The chances of finding all the missing are slim, according to Oran Finegan, an Irish forensic anthropologist.

“In this kind of project, you’ve done well if you can find and identify more than 60-70 per cent of the disappeared,” he said.

Last month, the missing persons committee opened a new building, where relatives are invited to view the remains.

Elias Georgiades, the Greek Cypriot member of the committee, said the family viewing facility was a place where the process of acceptance – and perhaps reconciliation – could start.

“The first reaction is to get angry and demand explanations: these disappearances have shaped family lives for a generation,” he said. “But in the end, people almost always express their gratitude to the forensic team.”

This has been the only bi-communal project to make headway so far, although others are expected to be launched soon. Demetris Christofias, the new Greek Cypriot president, and Mehmet Ali Talat, the Turkish Cypriot leader, have agreed to promote confidence-building measures.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4472ce3e-fabd ... 07658.html

[halil]

KUCUK CALLS ON THOSE HAVING INFORMATION ABOUT MISSING PERSONS TO PASS IT TO COMMITTEE

The Turkish Cypriot Member of the Committee on the Missing Persons Gulden Plumer Kucuk has called on Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, including those living abroad, who have any information regarding the missing persons to pass it on to the Committee.

She said people who have information on the issue could send e-mails to www.cmp-cyprus.org, where visitors could also learn more about the work being carried out by the Committee.

She also noted that all information given will be treated as strictly confidential.

In an exclusive interview with BRT-World, Mrs Kucuk announced that a total of 380 of the missing have been exhumed so far, of which 84 have been identified and returned to their loved ones.

She also noted that exhumations are still going on in Limassol, South Cyprus and in Girne and Massouria, North Cyprus.

Pointing out that the Committee has been successfully implementing a project since August 2004, she said besides helping to heal old wounds, the project is also contributing to the overall process of reconciliation between the two sides.

She said that the biggest challenge being faced by the Committee was the time lost in the past but added that the Committee would do its best to unearth the remains of as many missing persons as possible.

The Committee on Missing Persons was established in 1981 to look into cases of some 2000 persons reported missing between 1963 and 1974.