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[halil]

Transcript of Remarks by Special Advisor of the Secretary-General Alexander Downer following the meeting of Cyprus Leaders at UNFICYP Chief of Mission Residence, United Nations Protected Area, Nicosia, 02 September 2011

The Leaders met today for three hours and they discussed property and territory. They presented documents. Both sides presented documents, and they decided after some detailed discussion of these documents that it would be productive for the Representatives to take on the discussion henceforth in relation to these documents in order to ensure not just clarifications but with a view to coming to convergences.

There is no doubt the atmosphere was a good atmosphere today, a positive atmosphere and an encouraging atmosphere. So that is the procedure that is going to take place, and the Representatives will meet on Monday to take this work forward.

The second thing to say is that I will be going to Greece myself on Monday to meet with the Greek Foreign Minister and the Greek Government so I won’t be here for the Representatives’ meeting but it is important for us, in the United Nations, to keep in touch with the three guarantor powers.

I went to Turkey fairly recently and it is time I went to Greece so the Foreign Minister has invited me to go, and I look forward to meeting up with him.

The third thing to say to you is that next Wednesday I will be discussing the Cyprus issue with the United Nations Security Council. I won’t be travelling to New York but I will be meeting with them through cyberspace, through a video telecommunications link-up. So I will be doing that, I think I am right in saying, about 6 or 6.30 in the evening Cyprus time, from here We think it is important to keep in constant contact with the Security Council and that members of the Security Council are properly briefed on what is happening in the negotiations, and we think this negotiation, while Cyprus-owned and Cyprus-led, has of course very great implications for the broader European Community. After all, these negotiations are under the auspices of the United Nations, they are under the auspices of Security Council Resolutions so the international community has a great interest in how these negotiations are progressing, and it is an important part of my work to make sure that they are fully briefed.

Question: Have the Leaders discussed any maps or figures?

AD: I think I have explained this on a number of occasions. They have been discussing territory and property. There are a whole raft of issues within the context of territory which go way beyond just the question of maps and figures because, obviously, if you are going to transfer the boundaries then that is going to have implications for people, and all of that has to be thought about, and those people who might be affected by any changes in boundaries have to be looked after, consistent with not just law but in a way more importantly, just consistent with good decent human practice. So there has to be thought given to all of those sorts of things.

As I have said before, when it comes to maps and figures both sides have agreed that they will discuss maps and figures towards the end of the process, and there has never been any suggestion that this week or last week when they are talking about territory and property, they will be discussing maps and figures. They have their own thoughts about these things, of course, but maps and figures both Leaders have agreed they will leave towards the end of the process.

Question: You said that the Leaders were discussing property and territory today. Does it mean that they have discussed these two chapters together?

AD: Certainly today there were aspects of both territory and property that were discussed in both sides’ proposals. So when I say documents, these are documents of proposals. And yes, certainly, there is a discussion about both those things

Question: We have seen that Mr Iacovou is still here. Is there anything still going inside?

AD: There is lunch.

Question: Was the issue of drilling discussed?

AD: It only came up in the very first meeting after the summer break. It wasn’t discussed at all today, no mention of it in any context.

Question: Were the property experts present at the meeting today?

AD: If you mean the consultants that we use, the consultants don’t sit in the meetings, just the professional UN people sit in the meetings. And the consultants, they are in the building, sometimes, so we, the UN, can go and consult them or the parties can as well. So we have one of our property consultants here at the moment.

Question: So (inaudible)

AD: They do that the whole time. And as you know, we have Mr Cesar das Neves, from the European Commission, from Mr Barroso’s office, who has joined our team. He came down here just at the beginning of the meeting, to meet with the Leaders but he has gone off on appointments. I know he has met with Mr Christofias and Mr Iacovou and a number of Greek Cypriot political identities: Mr Garoyian, Mr Omirou, I think. He is going to go through a process of meeting with the Turkish Cypriot leaders as well. I think this afternoon, don’t hold me to this, but I think, he is meeting with Mr Eroglou.

Question: Why did the Leaders leave so early?

AD: Because really, just a practical thing, they have felt they have made some good progress at their level, and some of the detail needs to be worked through, questions asked and answered, detail refined by the Representatives. And given that they have done some successful work on various proposals they have been putting forward, it was felt that it was best if it was taken forward by the Representatives from here because it is a technical work.

(In addition to his remarks, Mr Downer suggested some alternative arrangements for media coverage of the meetings, including a proposal to schedule a regular press briefing at 3pm on the days the leaders meet.)

[humanist]

I cannot see the Cypro being resolved before the decade is over. IT would take a lot of oil and US interests to see any real progress on the Cypro.