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Main News
Phileleftheros reveals new UN minutes document
Phileleftheros
Negotiations Process
OVERVIEW
Phileleftheros has revealed a new document containing confidential UN minutes taken during the second meeting held between the UN Secretary General (UNSG) and Turkish Foreign Minister Melvut Cavusoglu, that preceded the final dinner during which the round of talks collapsed.
The second meeting had taken place on July 6, at 4.30pm, with the paper reporting that it shows the UNSG desperately attempting to persuade Cavusoglu, who however remained unyielding. But the paper also reports that the UNSG’s stance on certain matters raises serious questions.
The key points raised in the meeting, according to the minutes, involved the chapter of security and guarantees. The two discussed guarantees and the presence of troops, with Cavusoglu stating the need to see progress in table 2.
Phileleftheros reports that the UNSG told Cavusoglu that he wanted to discuss ways of persuading the GC side that very positive developments in the security and guarantees chapter could only be obtained through substantial concessions in the other four chapters, noting that if he was successful towards this end he would be in a position to table a non-proposal, but if he was not, they would be a difficult position. Phileleftheros finds this stance by the UNSG unacceptable.
Phileleftheros reports that the basic goal of the meeting was for the UNSG to see what Turkey’s intentions were on the matter of Turkish troops, and especially whether in the event of a solution these would stay or go.
Cavusoglu said according to the minutes that he had gotten the impression that it was impossible for the GC side and President Nicos Anastasiades to strike a deal unless they obtained everything, and particularly with respect to their demands for zero troops and zero guarantees. But, Cavusoglu said, this would be impossible for the Turks and TCs to accept.
The paper writes that the minutes show that Turkey was not willing to retreat on the matter of troops, not even on decreasing their number. According to the minutes published by the paper, the UNSG had asked Cavusoglu whether Turkey would consider a reduction of troops to the level considered in the Treaty of Alliance, with Cavusoglu responding that they had accepted this figure in 2004. But, he said, times have changed, particularly given trends outside Cyprus (Syria, energy, terrorism), and so the number of troops must be more than that, especially if there was a Turkish base.
Therefore, Phileleftheros reports that unlike what we had believed at the time, the discussion between the UNSG and Cavusoglu was not on a clause that would facilitate the complete withdrawal of Turkish troops, but on their permanent stay and their final number.
Phileleftheros reports that a diplomatic source told the paper that it was a regression on the part of the UNSG that he didn’t make use of the hard concessions Anastasiades had made many hours before his meeting with Cavusoglu. The paper asks why the UNSG did not respond to Cavusoglu’s reluctance with evidence of concessions made by Anastasiades, even when Cavusoglu said that progress on the four other chapters would make Turkey more flexible.
Listing the concessions made by Anastasiades on all parameters of the Guterres framework, which the paper describes as unacceptable, the paper reports that these concerned the issue of the rotating presidency, effective participation, property, and equal treatment of Greek and Turkish settlers. The precondition for these concessions was the abolition of guarantees, intervention rights, and a clause for the withdrawal of all troops within five to seven years. Therefore, the paper writes, Anastasiades accepted their stay for some years, but Turkey sought that the troops remain forever.
Citing the diplomatic source, the paper reports that if Guterres had mentioned these concessions, Turkey made had acted differently, even if the minutes show that Turkey was never even discussing the withdrawal of Turkish troops.
The paper reports that during the dinner that followed the meeting between the UNSG and Cavusoglu, the UNSG diverted the conversation elsewhere. The paper reports that this information is based on another document containing the minutes of that dinner, which Phileleftheros will publish at a later date.
Specifically, the paper writes that during the dinner, the UNSG was attempting to present Turkey as ready for a complete abolition of guarantees, intervention rights and for a complete withdrawal of troops, but across a specific timeline. But, the UNSG could not prove this position in writing or through an official statement by Cavusoglu, and this is why the negotiations process collapsed.
Overall, Phileleftheros reports that the official UN minutes from the two meetings between the UNSG and Cavusoglu, show that Turkey insisted on its well-known positions, and was not willing to budge.
A diplomatic source told the paper that the UNSG had realised that there was no room for agreement in Crans-Montana, and therefore attempted through vague statements and insinuations to present Turkey as ready to scrap guarantees so that the process could move on to the level of Prime Ministers of Greece, Turkey and the UK, where extreme pressure would be mounted on Anastasiades to accept the solution framework submitted by the UNSG.
This framework, according to the paper, would demand that Anastasiades accepts Turkish guarantees and intervention rights for another 15 years after the solution. And if, in the meantime, things went well, the clause for the review of the stay of troops would be activated, but it would not seek a complete withdrawal.
Phileleftheros also reports that the minutes also show that it was the former Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim who persuaded the former Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to not get on a plane and fly to Crans-Montana.
The paper points to its next report on the matter, which will reveal crucial discussions between the UNSG and Federica Mogherini, Former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.