Greek, Turkish Cypriot Leaders Meet In Nicosia To Get Peace Talks Back On Track

 Greek, Turkish Cypriot Leaders Meet in Nicosia to Get Peace Talks Back on Track

The United Nations hosted an informal meeting between Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci in a bid to revive stalled reunification negotiations, which collapsed in Switzerland in 2017

BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th February, 2019) The United Nations hosted an informal meeting between Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci in a bid to revive stalled reunification negotiations, which collapsed in Switzerland in 2017.

Anastasiades and Akinci met on Tuesday at a UN compound inside the buffer zone in the divided capital Nicosia. The meeting was hosted by Elizabeth Spehar, the head the UN peacekeeping mission in Cyprus.

According to a UN spokesperson, the sides had a "constructive exchange of views in a cordial atmosphere." During the meeting, the two leaders committed to intensify the work of the so-called technical committees to improve the daily lives of all Cypriots. They also decided to improve the divided island's mobile phone interoperability to facilitate greater interaction between the two communities. However, the UN statement made no mention of the resumption of peace talks.

Anastasiades said following the meeting with Akinci that the right environment was not in place yet for the two sides to resume formal reunification negotiations, mostly because they remained divided on key issues related to security arrangements and power sharing, according to the Greek Observer media outlet.

GREEK CYPRIOT LAWMAKERS BLAME TURKEY FOR STALLED PEACE TALKS

In May 2015, Anastasiades and Akinci agreed to restart peace negotiations to reunify the divided island of Cyprus after a half-year break amid a row over the offshore gas explorations. However, the negotiations process, which had been widely thought of as the best chance to find a solution to a decades-long conflict, collapsed in July 2017 at the UN-sponsored talks held in the Swiss municipality of Crans-Montana, with the sides being unable to reach a final agreement.

Sputnik asked several Cypriot lawmakers to share their views on the prospects for the resumption of Cyprus peace negotiations. The majority of them said the Turkish Cypriots could not make decisions without referring to Ankara for every step.

"The experience we have from similar meetings between Nicos Anastasiades and Mustafa Akinci, which took place in the past ... has shown that these meetings, beyond their social character, cannot contribute to creating a positive framework for the negotiations on the solution to the Cyprus problem. This is because the representative of the Turkish Cypriots is under the absolute control of Ankara, which determines the context in which he will move," Marinos Sizopoulos, a Cypriot politician and the president of the Movement for Social Democracy party, said.

According to the lawmaker, as the Crans-Montana talks have shown, "Turkey is not willing to proceed to a meaningful dialogue. It simply uses it to gain time in order to 'legitimize' its goals in the occupied Northern Cyprus."

Similarly, leader of the Cyprus Green Party George Perdikes argued that currently there was not enough space for discussion between the two sides "because of Turkey's stand." He suggested that Russia and other members of the United Nations Security Council could also take part at international talks on the Cyprus issue.

Angelos Votsis, a member of the parliament of Cyprus, on his part, described Tuesday's meeting between Anastasiades and Akinci as a "polite discussion," stressing that starting real negotiations between the sides was difficult but possible. At the same time, the lawmaker regretted that Turkey was not ready for "the essential concessions that would enable a real negotiation to start between the Greeks and the Turks on the island."

For Turkey, Cyprus is the home of two nations, and only an approach which takes into account vital interests of the both sides could lead to a lasting settlement of the issue. In an interview with the Greek Cyprus newspaper Politis, published last November, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey would support a solution approved by both the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities via referendums. Voicing support for a peaceful resolution to the Cyprus problem, the Turkish minister stressed the need to consider alternative solutions to a federation for the divided island.

TURKEY'S ENERGY AMBITIONS IN EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN

Gas fields were first discovered in waters off Cyprus in 2011. ExxonMobil is one of five international energy companies that are exploring around the island. This week, ExxonMobil is reportedly expected to announce a natural gas find after several months of exploratory drilling in the eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey, too, has been involved in the race to tap potentially profitable underwater resources. On February 21, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said as quoted by the Hurriyet newspaper that Turkey planned to start offshore drilling with two ships around Cyprus. He stressed that natural resources in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean remained Turkey's "strategic goals and national issues," adding that "nothing at all can be done in the Mediterranean without Turkey."

Anna Theologou, an independent member of the parliament of Cyprus, told Sputnik there was "no surprise" that Tuesday's meeting between Anastasiades and Akinci took place a few days before the announcements by the international drilling companies about their findings concerning gas explorations in the region.

"Turkey wants to be a part of the energy developments in the area and does not want to be isolated by the tripartite agreements with the neighboring countries. Also, Turkey feels threatened by the ongoing discussions between Cyprus and other interested countries in the region for the drilling and exploitation of natural gas. The bullying tactics towards Cyprus for its gas program are an ongoing process for a few years now either by military and naval exercises even in the territorial waters of Cyprus," Theologou said.

According to the lawmaker, Ankara will show the political will to resume Cyprus peace talks "only if its interests are met and it has something more to gain over the ones already gained using force."

Echoing the opinion expressed by previous speakers, a member of the European Parliament from the Democratic Party of Cyprus, Costas Mavrides, argued that no leader of the Turkish Cypriots, including Akinci, had ever had a real decision-making power, and was instead acting in line with Ankara's "dictate."

"Turkey has no legal ground on the energy plans but it is desperately looking for a way to somehow get such a leading role in Eastern Mediterranean. What prevails in Erdogan's mindset today is the political Islamist agenda and nothing else. Unfortunately, with such aggressive policies, there is no prospect for a peaceful and lasting solution in Cyprus with removal of Turkish occupying forces," Mavrides pointed out.

Turkey, on its part, has contested the Greek Cypriot Administration's "unilateral" hydrocarbon-related activities in the eastern Mediterranean, calling it a disregard for the rights of the Turkish Cypriots to natural resources. Ankara has stressed multiple times that Turkey will continue to protect its rights and interests in its continental shelf in the eastern Mediterranean, and will continue to provide support to the Turkish Cypriot community. In its statement from February 11, 2018, the Turkish Foreign Ministry accused the Greek Cypriot administration of acting as though it was the sole owner of the island, adding that the administration's attitude was the "fundamental reason behind the failure of the Cyprus settlement negotiations."

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when the Turkish troops entered the island. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was declared in 1983 and has been recognized only by Turkey, while the international community considers it to be part of the Republic of Cyprus.