Front Page Headlines
Rent adds to Covid worries
Having to pay rents exacerbating problems for shuttered businesses. Support measures outlined.
- Time working against a Cyprus solution: UNSG
Destructive embrace of Turkish positions
Loose federation (an idea) with Turkish origin: British give President away. Jane Holl Lute arrives in Cyprus to “lock” five-party meeting. How it is revealed that positions of the G/C side were Turkey’s positions. What does an English document say on Clerides’s position on “Swiss” sovereignty for Turks, residual powers and political equality. The acceptance of political equality by Clerides and the strong central authority. Basic CBMs connected with Tymbou and ending Turkey’s embargo.
- Greece – Turkey: “Dialogue” in midst of new Turkish provocations
- Middle East: Plucked olive branches from Erdogan to Israel and Egypt
- Parliament: Revised budget on January 18
- Zurich – London: A historical assessment and lessons for today
- Defence: Cyprus and the unforgivable absence of deterrence
- British documents: Revelations by Sir David Hannay on “Annan Plan”
- Christodoulos K. Giallourides (opinion): Realities with partitionist dimensions
- Nicos Katsourides (opinion): Whatever each represents… Lute and the others
- Andreas S. Angelides (opinion): Turkey and us as a deconstructed state
- Kyriakos Mbarris (opinion): Famagusta gone too
- Petros Th. Pantelides (opinion): Is the time drawing close for abolition of the RoC?
A hundred times better if I hadn’t been “involved” with passports
Big interview by President Nicos Anastasiades to “Politis”. If I knew that we would end up with attributing to me intentions or alleged involvement with corruption, I would have never done it. They reached the point of saying that for someone to get a passport they had to buy a property or a car from my sons-in-law. Let’s clarify something. I was never the Saudi’s lawyer. It was Loukis Papaphilippou and later Chr. Patsalides. I will not turn Morphou (Bishop) into a hero.
- Gulf crisis: An area in endless movement
- Christos Yiangou – political analyst: Reaching a federal solution through CBMs
- Guterres: Negotiations with a clear time horizon
Dive with UN “lifeline”
United Nations: Reach a joint statement before five-party meeting to prevent failure. Strategic agreement, which is also an aim for Nicosia, on the agenda. Tatar’s “refrain” and Turkey’s help. Traps from “sovereign equality”.
- Unofficial 5+1 conference: Aim is to build a positive result – A. Guterres does not want to connect the end of his term with a new failure in the Cyprus Problem – Turkish side pressures United Nations to define time frames
- UNSG reports: Warns that time is running out – Reference to federation through Anastasiades – No reference to Turkish provocations in Varosha and EEZ
- Charalambos Petrides (Defence Minister): We strengthened the readiness of our armed forces
H. Georgiades: Partition emerges from things as they are
Refugees passed away, properties are lost and Turkey seeks only joint sovereignty.
- Cyprus Problem: Which CBMs Anastasiades puts forward to the UN
- New York: Everything might be discussed in informal conference
- Nicos Dendias (interview): Athens remains consistent on BBF solution for the Cyprus Problem
- Evaluations speed up voting of budget – Aim is for it to be approved before Moody’s report
- Giorgos Vasiliou (opinion): Casting doubt on “new realism”
- Stefanos Stefanou (opinion): President of partition
- Michalis Attalides (opinion): Thoughts on upcoming negotiations
AKEL proposal to end impasse in Cyprus Problem
- Anastasiades’s flirt with two states lasts for years
- Deryneia resists partition
- Closure of checkpoints a blow to human relations
400 million euro oxygen
Government puts money into saving the economy. Provisions for support to businesses, workers and self-employed, while covering for the first time business rents and tax reductions. The aim is for no workers to be let go and businesses to be able to overcome crisis caused by pandemic.
- Points made by UNSG in UNFICYP report: Scepticism over divergent positions – Antonio Guterres asks the two leaders to implement CBMs and avoid hostile rhetoric
- Christos Panagiotides (opinion): New realism, Harris Georgiades’ positions and some questions
- Greek parliament: Extension of coastal zone (territorial sea) in Ionian Sea to 12 miles
- COVID-19: Another six patients lost their lives
- Cyprus Problem: AKEL proposal made public
- Political analysis: What we should tell Jane Holl Lute tomorrow
Main News
Georgiades expands on his positions on federation and need for realism
Kathimerini
Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
DISY deputy president Haris Georgiades gave an interview in Kathimerini expanding on his positions put forward in an article in the same newspaper a week before regarding the need to reconsider the aim for a federal solution which had caused a lot of reactions and commentary.
Georgiades said that partition, despite not being the G/C side’s choice, is emerging from things as they are and added that the last opportunity for a solution was 2004 when AKEL rejected the plan. He added that most refugees have passed away and that properties are today lost. He also said that he would not accept a federation without the return of Morphou and Famagusta.
When it was pointed out to him that the Guterres Framework includes Morphou and Famagusta, he said that the Turkish side does not accept that. When asked what he expects to happen without this, he said that he expects the situation to be difficult and that partition will come de facto without being the G/Cs’s choice.
According to Georgiades, federation as described today by the T/Cs leaves things as they are with the only difference being that state sovereignty will be shared.
Georgiades also said that he is open to the possibility of a functional approach towards a comprehensive deal that would mean applying some of its parameters before a final deal. He said that for example, increasing trade, transport, or reducing troops before a solution could set the whole effort on a new basis and would mean that the peace dividend would begin to be shared between the sides.
KEY ACTORS
Georgiades (DISY deputy leader)
>> Partition is emerging from the situation as it is and is not the choice of the G/Cs, but last chance for solution was 2004.
>> A solution without Morphou and Famagusta is not acceptable.
>> The federation that the T/Cs describe leaves things as they are with the only difference that sovereignty will be shared.
>> He is open to a functional approach which would mean applying some parameters of a comprehensive deal before it is finalised.
>> This could be opening trade, transport or reducing troops in order to set the whole effort on a new basis, thus beginning the sharing of the peace dividend before a solution.
UNSG notes that time is running out as UN considers strategic deal
Alithia, Haravgi, Kathimerini, Phileleftheros, Politis, Simerini, Sunday Mail
Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
Drafts on UNSG Antonio Guterres’ report on the renewal of UNFICYP’s mandate as well as on his Offices have been published, the dailies report.
According to Politis, the UNSG expresses his concerns and points out that the leaders of the two communities are expressing different positions on the form of a future solution, while both communities are increasingly sceptical regarding the prospect of a return to negotiations. Guterres points out that the passage of time does not work in favour of a solution and that changes on the island could soon become non-reversible.
Regarding the 5+1 informal conference (two sides, three guarantors plus UN), Guterres writes that the purpose of the meeting is to confirm whether there is common ground for the two sides to negotiate a lasting and viable solution within a predictable framework.
Guterres also writes that political developments on the island are unpredictable due to regional tensions as well as steps taken in Varosha, and calls for the avoidance of unilateral moves. He also points out that there has been no progress in deciding on confidence-building measures, and that the sides have shown limited cooperation regarding the handling of the pandemic.
Phileleftheros points out that the UNSG does not mention that the bizonal bicommunal federation is the final aim of the negotiation, and that the only reference to this solution model exists in President Anastasiades’ appended positions.
Phileleftheros also reports that the UN is making efforts to make sure ahead of time that any negotiations process will not fail. According to information cited by the newspaper, Lute will want to make sure that the joint statement that will come out of the informal conference will be agreed ahead of time, while the UNSG is open to the idea of a strategic intermediary agreeement.
According to the newspaper, the G/C side agrees with this plan despite the possible dangers. Phileleftheros points out that the joint statement that will come after the meeting could be that strategic deal, depending on its content. Sources have indicated to the newspaper that the sides need to be flexible, but what has already been agreed has to be respected with the two sides building on the existing body of work.
The dailies also publish AKEL’s proposal to the President regarding the restart of negotiations, which was published on Saturday by the opposition party’s secretary general, Andros Kyprianou.
Politis reports that AKEL’s proposal includes ten points which had been brought up at different times over the period since the end of the Crans Montana conference in 2017. During the press conference, Kyprianou said that Anastasiades had sent his own proposals to the UNSG without consulting with the parties and that AKEL had not gotten a response on its own proposals.
AKEL proposes that, regarding the return to negotiations, the G/C side should reiterate its support to a bizonal bicommunal federation with political equality without prerequisites, say it’s ready to negotiate on the basis of the 2014 joint statement, past convergences and the Guterres framework, that it should particularly underline its acceptance of convergences relating to political equality and effective participation and that it should show readiness to submit proposals that can bridge the differences between the two sides.
Regarding hydrocarbons, AKEL proposes that the G/C side confirm convergences on maritime zones reached during the Christofias Presidency, be open to discuss participation of the T/Cs in natural gas issues after a strategic deal, to accept the creation of a federal Hydrocarbon Fund after the solution, commit to negotiate with Turkey after a solution to delineate the EEZs of the two sides and to begin work on a pipeline to Turkey and commit to lifting obstacles to Turkey participating in regional energy initiatives.
In an interview with Kathimerini, Greek Foreign Minister Nicos Dendias said that Greece is ready to take part in a 5+1 conference, in coordination with the RoC, and that the country’s position remains that the only way to solve the Cyprus Problem is through a bizonal, bicommunal federation on the basis of Security Council resolutions and the EU acquis.
Regarding Turkey, Dendias said that today the country is different from the early 2000s when it was looking towards becoming a member of the EU, and noted that it is up to Turkey itself to decide for its future.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Politis, political analyst and former diplomat Christos Yiangou argues that the goal of a federal solution can be achieved through a gradual process that will prepare the population to accept a solution over two to three years.
According to Yiangou, the current approach is like trying to solve the Cyprus Problem without preparing the ground, instead of preparing the ground before solving the problem. Yiangou points out that a solution will have to be accepted by the majority of the political leadership in both sides but that citizens will also have to be psychologically prepared. These preconditions are not in place today, he said.
Yiangou said that in a series of articles he has proposed the gradual adoption of confidence-building measures on both high and low-level political issues. This process would begin with an intermediate agreement that would reconfirm that the two sides accept the February 11, 2014 joint statement, the convergences reached so far and the Guterres Framework, as well as the adoption of a road map with CBMs for the next two to three years.
This road map would lead up to a negotiation of a comprehensive solution which would be monitored by the UN Security Council. The CBMs proposed include: the return of Varosha under UN administration in return for the opening of the Tymbou airport and the Famagusta port without recognition, the unfreezing of Turkey’s accession chapters in return for the application of the Ankara Protocol by Turkey, the creation of a bicommunal Technical Committee on Hydrocarbons, the gradual withdrawal of Turkish troops in return for a temporary freeze on new armaments for the National Guard.
Haravgi publishes a timeline of all mentions by the press and officials that President Anastasiades has considered a two-state solution at various points since 2017. The report points at a report by Politis that Anastasiades was flirting with a two-state solution even before Crans Montana, as well as reports that he had broached the issue with representatives of the Famagusta business community, before bringing the issue up with Mevlut Cavusoglu during the conference.
The newspaper points out that this information was reported by G/C newspapers, including Phileleftheros, Kathimerini and Politis. The newspaper also notes that Anastasiades had said in 2018 that he did not reject a two-state solution during an interview with Greek newspaper Lifo while then government spokesperson Prodromos Prodromou had said on CyBC that the President had asked foreign leaders what they thought of Turkey’s position on a two-state solution.