As President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish-Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci negotiate over the issue of territory in reunification talks, Athens has drawn the line at Turkey remaining as the sole guarantor power over Cyprus after the UK and Greece both said they would leave it up to the leaders to decide.
Turkey insists on retaining security guarantor powers granting it limited intervention rights in internal affairs here. In 1974, Turkey abused its powers by invading and occupying Cyprus, while setting up a Turkish-Cypriot puppet state. More than 200,000 refugees lost their homes in the northern third of the island and 1,600 people are still missing, presumed dead.
During a speech last week to outgoing US President Obama, President Pavlopoulos said that a viable solution in Cyprus would mean no obsolete guarantees, no occupation armies and no confederate system, because any of these would violate EU laws.
“We should also not forget that the solution of the Cyprus issue that does not respect those facts would create a very negative precedent for the existence and the sovereignty of every member state. This is primary European role rule and this precedent could put at risk all of the individual member states,” said President Pavlopoulos.
Relations between Greece and Turkey are distinctly chilly ever since Turkish President Erdogan said he was dissatisfied with Turkey’s borders, which were laid out in the Treaty of Lausanne after World War I.
“Any dispute of the Treaty of Lausanne is inconceivable and unacceptable since it would be a blatant violation of international law, for which the treaty was fought, and would undermine not only the borders of Greece, but also of the European Union, since the borders of the European Union, Mr. President, are the borders of individual member states,” said Pavlopoulos.
After the deadlocked outcome of the latest round of talks in Mont Pelerin, Switzerland, Cyprus’ leaders now face the additional challenge of colder relations between Greece and Turkey, and the possibility that formal reunification at a political level has just moved further away.
The first round of talks in Mont Pelerin did not produce the highly-anticipated breakthroughs over territory, and the second round started on November 20th.
If progress had been made on the territorial issues, the next step would have been negotiations on government powers within a federal system, and the question of third-country guarantors.
That’s a very big ‘if’. Already the two sides have rejected the other’s positions on one important territorial issue – Morphou. Currently under occupation, the Greek-Cypriots want it back or there’s no deal. The Turkish-Cypriots draw a red line at releasing Morphou.
Property
There are still disagreements on the issue of property, but some progress has been made. Remedies to the property issue would include full resettlement, partial resettlement, alternative resettlement and compensation, said Anastasiades.
“The protection of the above right is further safeguarded through the free choice of the owner –if he/she is not satisfied with the decisions of the domestic legal means- to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights,” he added.
Famagusta would be returned to its lawful inhabitants, and all the uninhabited areas and no-man’s land would be returned to their rightful owners, he said.
A significant number of occupations forces would withdraw, added the president.
Clarity
Nicos Anastasiades clarified that the talks are based on the Republic of Cyprus transforming into a bi-communal federal state from a unitary state, denying the opposition’s accusations that he is planning a confederation.
In a confederation, the constituent states maintain separate sovereignty. In a federation, the constituent states have a single sovereignty.
“The foundation of the Republic of Cyprus, in other words, the Treaty of Establishment of 1960, will remain undisturbed in force, while Cyprus will continue to be a member of the United Nations, a member of the European Union, a member of various international organizations of which we are members, while the international treaties that have been signed since the establishment of the Republic will also be in force,” said the president.
It has been agreed that each of the constituent federal states will have its own independent system of social security, its own health system, its own educational system, its own municipalities and would safeguard the special ethnic, cultural and religious characteristics of each community, said Anastasiades.
Basic EU freedoms would be safeguarded, he added in recent comments.
• Each citizen will be able to move freely throughout the state of Cyprus, without any restriction.
• Everyone who is a lawful citizens of the Republic of Cyprus, will have the right of choice for the place of settlement.
Everyone would have the right to buy property and be employed or run a business wherever they wish, said the president.
“If someone chooses to be employed, to reside, to acquire property in the Turkish Cypriot constituent state, but they are citizens of the Greek Cypriot (constituent state), they will have this right and if they have not acquired the permanent residence, they will exercise their electoral rights as in the case of voters, who exercise their right to vote in a municipality or community other than the one, in whose electoral rolls they are registered,” he said.
For a Turkish settler to acquire Cypriot citizenship, four Greek persons must get their citizenship first, said the president.
Agreements and disagreements
In the latest development, the leaders have agreed on how the constituent states would make international agreements. The discussions about governance and a rotating presidency have not been started, said President Anastasiades.
The final stage before the referendum will be a meeting with Turkey, Greece, the UK and the Cypriot negotiation teams.
The sticking points remain:
- Security. Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots want to retain Turkey’s guarantee over Cyprus. This is rejected by the Greek Cypriots and even the other guarantors – UK and Greece – have said they no longer want to be guarantors.
- Property and territory. The 1974 Turkish invasion resulted in ethnic cleansing of Greek Cypriots from the north of the island. The two communities have been segregated ever since by Turkish troops. No formula has yet been found to agree on the territory allocated to each community that would make up the two entities under a federal umbrella. The Greek-Cypriots have made it clear they won’t accept a solution without the return of Morphou district. This condition is rejected by the Turkish Cypriots.
- Voting rights. What exactly does political equality mean? The Turkish Cypriots are negotiating for political equality but the formula has once again not been found that would work long term. The minority cannot rule the majority, and nobody wants to be a second-class citizen, meaning that balancing out the governing powers is a huge challenge.
Another significant challenge is the trust between the communities, struck down by decades of separation and the roots of conflict left over from the Ottoman wars in the region.
If a deal is reached in 2016, the island-wide referenda would be held in 2017, before the next general elections in February 2018.
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