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[halil]

Transcript of Remarks by Special Adviser of the Secretary-General Alexander Downer following the meeting of Cyprus Leaders at UNFICYP Chief of Mission Residence, United Nations Protected Area, Nicosia, 27 September 2011

The two Leaders met for quite some time today to talk about European Union matters; this is one of the less contentious chapters, of course, in the negotiations. As a result of the discussions today, as happened in the discussion on the economy chapter, the experts will be meeting later this week; they will be meeting on Thursday [29 Sept.]. When the experts met to discuss the economy chapter after the Leaders meeting, that meeting of the experts was pretty successful and they certainly have moved forward. And on the European Union matters, there are some issues to deal with here which they’ll be talking about on Thursday; they will be meeting at 10 o’clock on Thursday morning. In the meantime, the Leaders will be meeting again on Friday [30 Sept.], and they’ll be talking about security issues. Then next week we will go into a new phase, because we will have gone through all of the chapters by the end of this week. I will be talking with the Leaders tomorrow about how we’re going to handle this new phase. We have obviously given that some thought. This will be a phase that will lead us up to the meeting with the Secretary-General; no date has been confirmed on that yet, but it’s likely to be at the very end in October, it will be in October. How that meeting will go, as I have explained before, will depend very much on what’s been achieved by then. We look forward to next week getting into a different phase of the negotiations and that will take us through to the last meeting, which is on the 21st of October.

Question: How concerned are you that the controversy over the hydrocarbons could derail the peace talks?

Mr. Downer: Well, it hasn’t so far, it has to be said. And, indeed, during today’s meeting, there was no discussion about the controversy over hydrocarbons. The process is continuing in exactly the same vein as it had been before this controversy erupted. Having said that, of course the two Leaders have been in New York; they have met with the Secretary-General; they have had an opportunity to talk with him, not only about the negotiations, but they certainly discussed this issue as well with the Secretary-General. The Secretary-General has made it very clear that it’s important that restraint is exercised here, and that we do what we can to try to make sure these talks are successful; we don’t what to see anything happen that would derail the talks. So far that hasn’t happened and we hope that that remains the case.

Question: Is there an agreement between the Leaders that this hydrocarbon issue is not to be discussed during these meetings? Because this is a very contentious issue, and instead of taking about it here, where are they going to talk about it?

Mr. Downer: They have talked about it in these meetings. They talked about it; I’m struggling to remember how many weeks ago, two or three weeks ago…three weeks ago. So, they have talked about it in these meetings. But I think if they allowed these meetings to be overwhelmed by this issue, then it comes back to the answer I gave to the earlier question. Then it would, of course…be derailing the talks, because we’d be talking about hydrocarbon instead of talking about the chapters that we are trying to work through. We have a programme here of working through all of the chapters of these negotiations from the time the Secretary-General met the Leaders in Geneva in…July, up until the period just before they meet the Secretary-General again. Now they’ve very nearly gone through every chapter; they certainly isolated, very successfully, some issues as core issues that need finally to be resolved; they’ve moved slowly, but they’ve moved closer together. If we started devoting meetings to discussing hydrocarbons, then obviously that would…that wouldn’t perhaps help with trying to achieve our objective here of sticking to a timetable in terms of the actual negotiations. But, nevertheless, they did devote some part of a meeting, which was actually, from memory, the first meeting after the summer holidays; they did spend some time talking about it. I’ve obviously spoken to the two sides about it on several occasions, as I have with the Turkish Government, and a number of other governments. So, a good deal of talking has been going on about this issue, as you can imagine. That reminds me, just to add, that during the meetings last week in New York with the Secretary-General, this was certainly an issue for both Mr. Christofias and Mr. Eroglu and Prime Minister Erdogan. They all discussed. It is an issue, but it hasn’t been an issue which has overwhelmed the talks, that’s an important point to make.

Question: But now there are some new developments in the region about the drilling to fine hydrocarbons…but how can they pretend that nothing is happening when they are talking about the chapters?

Mr. Downer: Let me explain to you an answer in this way which I think would be helpful. There are a couple of things. First of all, we don’t want the controversy over hydrocarbons to derail these talks. If these talks are successful then the new united federal Cypriot government will have responsibility for resources issues; that is, natural resources, natural resources and water is the exact language used in a document. That is something that has already been agreed. There is already a convergence between the two sides that in the event of an agreement that is what will happen. We need to work very, very hard to make sure this agreement happens. That’s difficult, of course, but once revenues start flowing, assuming it does, and this is all in an exploratory phase, assuming it does, that revenue will flow to the federal government provided that there is an agreement, you know, a solution, as we say, to the Cyprus problem. It’s really important to understand that. Both sides have a real incentive to make sure that they can…lots of incentives; this is not the only one, there are lots of incentives, including this, to make sure they can reach agreement on the Cyprus question, and I think it underlines a simple point, that the stability of the region will be very much enhanced by an agreement here in these negotiations. What is the United Nations doing – it’s really focusing on trying to make these negotiations work, and as the Secretary-General said last week to the two sides, he wanted them to exercise restraint, make sure these negotiations weren’t derailed.

Question: I’ve got three questions which I’ll try to roll them into one…Is the UN offering to mediate in any way [inaudible]? The second one is, in terms of natural resources, you said it would be the responsibility of the federal government; has there been an understanding on how to apportion the revenues?...

Mr. Downer: No, the federal government would have to work that out…and what to do with the revenue. That’s something that the federal government, somewhere off into the future would have to deal with.

Question: My last one is what was the atmosphere like today?

Mr. Downer: Today was workmanlike, friendly. It was, well I think the atmosphere I’d describe is typical, which is workmanlike and friendly. They get on well personally. We have a break for lunch; they amiably talk about other issues over lunch. But, your first question was about the UN and what it would do in relation to this. If the two sides came together and asked us to play some sort of mediating role the Secretary-General would have a look at that and we’d discuss it and look at what we could do. But the two sides would have to come to us; we’re not trying to impose ourselves on them. I think our position is pretty clear. We really want these talks to succeed, we’re putting our main effort into making sure these talks do succeed, and in the meantime we hope the two sides, the various sides, will act with due restraint, that everybody will act with due restraint to ensure that in no way this issue derails these talks. Now, so far so good.

Question: What does the UN actually say [inaudible] the military freeze by the Turkish Prime Minister?

Mr. Downer: We are always cautious in setting ourselves up as commentators. That’s not our role. We obviously have conversations with the Turkish Government. I have spoken with the Turkish Foreign Minister and other Turkish authorities in recent times, so has the Secretary-General who has spoken with the Turkish Prime Minister. I think the main thing is to focus on what’s happening. In this particular case, have the talks been derailed? Are we spending all of our time in these talks talking about hydrocarbons, and disputes over hydrocarbons? No, we’re not. And for us in the United Nations the main thing is to try to get these talks to work. I know there is controversy in international relations; I know this from long experience about what different people say. Mainly it’s best not to fuel the fire by adding more and more remarks which will only make things worse. What is said is understood. We’ve had private conversations with the Greek Cypriots, obviously; we’ve had private conversations with the Turks and the Turkish Cypriots, and a number of others as well, a number of other countries, about this issue of hydrocarbons. I think, all credit to the United Nations, what we’ve said has remained pretty much private.

Question: Would the United Nations feel more comfortable if this process was suspended or put off?

Mr. Downer: No, we do not think the process should be suspended…

Question: …The hydrocarbon process…

Mr. Downer: Our focus is very much on continuing with the talks. Sorry, I thought you said ‘do we think the talks should be suspended’. No I don’t the talks should be suspended. I think the two sides, the various sides, not just the two sides, have made their positions pretty clear on that. As I keep saying, the talks are going on. If we can successfully conclude these talks, then much of the controversy over hydrocarbons, at least in relation to Cyprus, will disappear. It will disappear because there is a good agreement already reached - that natural resources and water will be a federal responsibility. I must say, if that were not the case then this issue would be a lot more difficult to deal with within the context of these talks. But bearing in mind there is that agreement, the sooner they can reach an overall here, the sooner that issue will become less contentious.

Question: Last week in New York Mr. Eroglu made some proposals, actually gave the proposals to the Secretary-General about the hydrocarbons. Turkey said this was a way of avoiding any crisis. Have those proposals been submitted to Mr. Christofias?

Mr. Downer: Mr. Christofias is obviously aware of those proposals; I mean those proposals have been made public, they’ve been in newspapers. So, obviously he’s fully aware of the proposals. Mr. Eroglu did indeed put proposals directly to the Secretary-General, and we received a paper now from the Turkish Cypriot side. How the Greek Cypriots respond to this is a matter that I’ll leave to them. But certainly we’re familiar with the proposals. As I said already, in terms of any role for the United Nations, that is something we would think about in the context of us being asked by the two sides to play a role. If we were asked by the two sides to play a role, we’d refer that to the Secretary-General and the Secretary-General would make a decision about that. But that hasn’t happened yet.

[Get Real!]

So which part of this got you excited Halil?

[halil]

So which part of this got you excited Halil?

none

how comic the sutiation

my age is 52.....how many years more i can witness

do u think i care re GR

[Get Real!]

If the Turkish puppet state wants to be entitled to RoC gains from TODAY then they must come here with the first installment for the RoC for her share from the Turkish economy, so please bring our cheque with you Halil.

WE WANT A SHARE OF THE TURKISH ECONOMY, THANKS.

[halil]

If the Turkish puppet state wants to be entitled to RoC gains from TODAY then they must come here with the first installment for the RoC for her share from the Turkish economy, so please bring our cheque with you Halil.

WE WANT A SHARE OF THE TURKISH ECONOMY, THANKS.

Your cheque will be in your account....i am sorry u can have it after solution..............

you better advise your solicitor to bring it for u, on to your grave that next and next generations of the GR's will be happy and proud with u .....

[Get Real!]

Your cheque will be in your account....i am sorry u can have it after solution..............

Thanks!

Please drop in after the solution for your cheque too!

See! I knew you and I could reach an agreement!