Mehmet Ali Talat, Turkish Cypriot leader, said the impending meeting (on 11 September) with Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias would build on the agreements already made as both parties were committed to continuing “to the end” to reach an agreement.

After more than 40 years of negotiations, the goal is a comprehensive settlement, rather than the step-by step piecemeal solutions offered in the past, which could never solve the problems, insisted Mr Talat. While the two sides have different views on the “Cyprus problem”, negotiations carried out with good will and flexibility will solve any problems, particularly as these talks are not starting from scratch, but include a huge accumulation of principles or “body of work”.

The turning point in negotiations came in 1977 with the High Level Agreement, followed by the Pérez de Cuéllar Document in 1985/6, the Boutras-Boutras Ghali Document in 1992, and the more recent Annan Plan in 2004, which ran to 9,000 pages including a 200-page Constitution for the United Cypriot Republic.

Mr Talat said the solution was a partnership state as set out in the 1960 Agreement, based on bizonality, in which the Turkish and Greek Cypriots are politically equal, although President Christofias would prefer a more centralised federation to prevent any possible partition of the island. The 1960s’ Republic of Cyprus was a “functioning federation”, rather than a unitary state, in which nothing could be passed without the approval of Turkish Cypriot Members of Parliament and the (Turkish-Cypriot) Vice-President.

A new partnership should be based on a federation of two zones, which reflects the fact that Cyprus is the common home of both Turkish and Greek Cypriots. Relations must be based on political equality and include safeguards to preserve Turkish Cypriot identity, ensuring that neither side can claim jurisdiction over the other. Any settlement would be put to separate simultaneous referenda to be approved by Turkish and Greek Cypriots.

The Turkish Cypriot leader was confident that the United Nations’ Secretary-General’s Special Envoy Alexander Downer would help solve any problems and that the settlement would have far-reaching ramifications, helping to sustain peace and prosperity in the region, with both Turkish and Greek Cypriots enjoying the benefits of EU membership.

The EU’s role

While the UN will play a major role in reaching a settlement, the EU’s Protocol 10 - which defines relations with the Greek and Turkish parts of the island – kick-started the second phase of unification negotiations. (In this Protocol, the EU agreed to accommodate the terms of any prospective settlement within its own legislation.)

Mr Talat said it was now important to reassure the Turkish Cypriots that Protocol 10 would be the primary law in EU legislation, to ensure impartiality.

Turkish Cypriots will also need technical assistance to be able to prepare for a durable settlement within the European system, as they lack knowledge of how the EU functions. However, they cannot ask the EU for political assistance as, unlike the UN, Brussels does not have “accumulated knowledge” of the Cyprus problem. 

The Union should encourage Greek Cypriots to reach a solution, as they have little incentive to reach a settlement now they are EU members and their “perceived” security threat was resolved with their entry into the Union. Brussels needs to guide them towards a solution as its contribution to “European integration”, said Mr Talat.

Just after the 2004 referenda on the Annan Plan, the European Council adopted the Greenline Regulation, governing the trade in goods, services and people between the two parts of Cyprus, designed to facilitate unification.

Unfortunately, claimed Mr Talat, this Greenline Regulation is not being fully implemented by the Greek Cypriots, who make it difficult for Turkish Cypriot goods to be displayed, and Greek Cypriot newspapers refuse to publish advertisements about businesses in Northern Cyprus. Other impediments to trade include refusing Turkish Cypriot trucks and tourist buses entrance into the southern part of the iisland.

At the same time, the EU Regulations on Financial Aid and Direct Trade also adopted in the aftermath of the 2004 referenda and intended to end the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots have failed to achieve the desired results.  The Financial Aid Regulation has moved forward, although difficulties remain, but the Direct Trade Regulation is “dormant” if not “killed” by the Greek Cypriots, who continue to put up barriers to its implementation, according to Mr Talat.  

Human trafficking and illegal immigration are of major concern in Cyprus, and Mr Talat argued that efforts to prevent this were being hampered by the Greek Cypriot police’s refusal to work with their Turkish Cypriot counterparts or its judicial system. Greek Cypriots claim that 95% of all illegal immigrants who enter Cyprus come via northern Cyprus, but the Turkish Cypriot leader described this as “manipulations” that find their way into European Commission reports.

Despite these difficulties, Mr Talat believed that these issues would all be solved by a comprehensive solution, and said the two sides were working towards forming a durable partnership.