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Main News
Parties react to report revealing UN Crans-Montana minutes
Alithia, Phileleftheros
Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
The dailies report on the reactions issued by parties after Phileleftheros revealed UN minutes on the Crans-Montana talks, which the paper argues prove how Turkey sunk the process and validate what President Nicos Anastasiades has been reiterating regarding the reasons behind the collapse of that round of talks.
Phileleftheros reports that Government Spokesman Marios Pelekanos, in response to a question from the paper, said the paper’s investigation confirms what Anastasiades has been saying from the first moment regarding why the Crans-Montana negotiations collapsed, but also regarding Turkey’s long-term goals with regards to resolving the Cyprus problem.
He added that the GC side’s unshakeable goal remains the resolution of the Cyprus problem based on high-level agreements and UN resolutions. The solution, he said, must be based on EU principles and values, and provide for a withdrawal of foreign troops and the abolition of intervention rights while also securing peaceful coexistence and the wellbeing of GCs and TCs.
DISY leader Averof Neophytou, responding to Phileleftheros’ report, said GCs are fighting for national survival and justification since 1974, in an attempt to be free of Turkish occupation, adding that Cypriots want more than anyone else the resolution of the Cyprus problem, since it is Cypriots who are experiencing the consequences of occupation and the Turkish invasion.
Neophytou also said that the Guterres framework set the current parameters for a comprehensive resolution of the Cyprus problem, highlighting the issue of security as a basic element. He added that in Crans-Montana, the UN Secretary General (UNSG) spoke of a normal state, noting that a normal state cannot include foreign guarantors and occupation troops.
The head of AKEL’s Cyprob bureau Toumazos Tselepis said that he could not comment on minutes that the party has yet to get hold of and examine, but did say that the report makes certain interpretations of the minutes. For example, he said that the position of Turkish Foreign Minister Melvut Cavusoglu that no troops and no guarantees cannot be a starting point is a well-known position since the matter of 650 Turkish troops and 950 Greek troops was still open for discussion.
What Tselepis wanted to focus on, rather, was an informal document submitted by the UNSG during the early stages of the meeting held the night of the Crans-Montana collapse. The document, according to Tselepis, was on the implementation of the solution, and called for an abolition of guarantees and intervention rights, since it blocked guarantor powers from having any syntactic or executive role and limited them to an advisory role during the solution implementation period.
He said this document was rejected by the GC side, with Greece, via its former Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, saying that it is the GC side that rejected the document and not Greece. Tselepis said Kotzias’ statement responds to everything.
DIKO said in an announcement that the documents prove once again the unacceptable goals of Turkey in relation to the Cyprus problem. The party said Turkey’s long-standing aim is to achieve a replacement of the treaty on guarantees with a new treaty which will transfer all Turkey’s right onto the ‘new state’. This is why it is necessary to implement a new strategy of imposing costs on Turkey if it does not abandon this and other unacceptable positions which pose obstacles for the resolution of Cyprob, the party said.
EDEK leader Marinos Sizopoulos said the National Council must ask the UNSG to submit his six-point framework in writing, noting that the British are behind the backstage deliberations. He said Cyprus is trapped in backstage deliberations in which UN representatives are also participating but which are coordinated by Britain, which is basically attempting to serve Turkish expansionist interests which work against the Republic of Cyprus and Cyprus’ people, both GCs and TCs.
DIPA leader Marios Garoyian said the report confirms what we all knew, that Turkey has basically never wanted to resolve substantial elements of Cyprob, particularly the issues of security, guarantees, and foreign troops.
Phileleftheros also reports on statements issued by politicians who were at Crans-Montana and witnessed the process first-hand. Among these was the former leader of the Greens Giorgos Perdikis, who said the report confirms that picture that he had formed regarding developments in Crans-Montana, based on the meetings he held there with Anastasiades and chief GC negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis, but also based on the briefing of the National Council by Kotzias. Similar information was also reaching those present by leaks from the negotiations table. Therefore, he said, he does not believe that Anastasiades left the negotiations table without cause, as some are claiming.
Similarly, the former leader of Citizens’ Alliance Giorgos Lillikas said that what the report revealed was the same information he had received while in Crans-Montana, but he just didn’t have the documents. He said he also believed that Turkey never accepted the abolition of guarantees and the withdrawal of its troops, and always believed that it was Turkey which was responsible for the collapse of the process.
Leader of Solidarity Eleni Theocharous said it is clear that many games were played, but it is also clear that not everyone there had the same information, not even Anastasiades, who she said might not have been informed on all matters and this was exposed through statements issued by Eide, who was caught not saying the truth multiple times, she said. Theocharous said even the map which was presented to her, it was later revealed that this was not the map submitted by the TC side. She added that it is clear that the malaise of Turkey was not only expressed on the final night but was seen from the beginning through its positions on guarantees the retaining of troops.
KEY ACTORS
Pelekanos
>> Report confirms what Anastasiades has been saying from the outset regarding why the Crans-Montana negotiations collapsed, but also regarding Turkey’s long-term Cyprob goals
>> GC side’s unshakeable goal remains the resolution of Cyprob based on high-level agreements and UN resolutions
>> The solution must be based on EU principles and values & provide for a withdrawal of foreign troops and the abolition of intervention rights while also securing peaceful coexistence and the wellbeing of GCs and TCs
Neophytou (DISY)
>> GCs are fighting for national survival and justification since 1974, in an attempt to be free of Turkish occupation
>> In Crans-Montana, the UNSG spoke of a normal state & a normal state cannot include foreign guarantors and occupation troops
Tselepis (AKEL)
>> Cavusoglu’s position that no troops and no guarantees cannot be a starting point is a well-known position since the matter of 650 Turkish troops and 950 Greek troops was still open for discussion
>> It was the GC side that rejected a document submitted by the UNSG & which provided for the abolition of guarantees and intervention rights
DIKO
>> The documents prove once again the unacceptable goals of Turkey in relation to the Cyprus problem
>> Turkey’s long-standing aim is to achieve a replacement of the treaty on guarantees with a new treaty which will transfer all Turkey’s right onto the ‘new state’
>> Necessary to implement a new strategy of imposing costs on Turkey if it does not abandon this and other unacceptable positions which pose obstacles for Cyprob solution
Sizopoulos (EDEK)
>> The National Council must ask the UNSG to submit his six-point framework in writing
>> The British are behind the backstage deliberations which seek to serve Turkish expansionist interests
Garoyian (DIPA)
>> Report confirms what we all knew, that Turkey never wanted to resolve substantial elements of Cyprob, particularly security, guarantees, and foreign troops
Perdikis (Greens)
>> Report confirms information received while in Crans-Montana
>> Does not believe that Anastasiades left the negotiations table without cause, as some are claiming
Lillikas
>> Report confirms information received while in Crans-Montana
>> Always believed that Turkey never accepted the abolition of guarantees & withdrawal of its troops, & always believed that it was Turkey which was responsible for the collapse of the process
Theocharous (Solidarity)
>> Many games were played at Crans-Montana, but also those there were receiving different information, including Anastasiades