Cyprus PIO: Turkish Press and Other Media, 02-01-15

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From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/>

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] The Turkish Cypriot leader does not want jurists in Alvaro de Soto/s team.

[02] Cag-Sen supports a unified Cyprus.

[03] Denktas is intransigent.

[B] COMMENTS AND EDITORIALS

[04] The last tango starts in Cyprus.

[A] NEWS ITEMS

[01] The Turkish Cypriot leader does not want jurists in Alvaro de Soto/s team

Speaking to journalists after his meeting with Eroglu and Cosar and when reminded about the news that de Soto came to the island with a delegation composed of jurists and he would submit a document during his contacts, Denktas said: "If he came to the island with a delegation, he made a big mistake. He only made a show-off. We don't need foreign jurists; he should not make such a show at this stage. This process is a single one between the two sides, a direct process in which nobody has to intervene. The mission of good offices of the U.N. Secretary-General continues. This mission is to bring together the sides and help them if they request. Therefore, the mission of de Soto is to be with the sides, which came together, and to help them when necessary. ``

Alleging that no agreement was reached on the island to date due to foreign interventions, Denktas said:"We want everybody to help in starting a positive process by leaving the sides alone. If they intervene in the process like they did in the past, things will not go well. ``

Assessing the Greek Cypriot side's approach, Denktas said: ``For a long time, the Greek Cypriot side had followed a policy of remaining behind by keeping the matter in the international arena and by giving authorities especially to other sides which supported them. However, I hope that they give up this policy in this new process and they keep this matter on the path for compromise sincerely as we do and they do not drag it to some other ways.``

Denktas said that they had prepared a report on the missing persons and they would present the report if President Glafcos Clerides sent his report the same day.

Responding to a question on the content of the report, Denktas said: ``It is a practical meeting document which puts forward what can be done in the light of the latest talks. It is not a thing that puts forward conditions. It is an exercise on what can be done and how. Also the Greek Cypriot side will do the same thing and later we will look whether or not these can be reconciled.``

When asked whether or not there would be a new meeting on the missing persons issue, Denktas said: ` A new meeting may not be needed. Maybe instructions would be given to the Missing Persons Committee through exchange of notes. However, we can briefly take this up again at a session in which de Soto does not participate during our meeting on January 16. This matter does not concern de Soto as we separated it from politics. ``

In reply to a question before the meeting with Mr Alvaro de Soto, Denktas said that de Soto arrived on the island with his usual team, and the situation is not like it was reflected in the media.

In reply to the same question, de Soto explained that he is accompanied by his usual team, which is not new. After the meeting, de Soto responded to the journalists' questions on the composition of his team. Noting that there is no one new in his team, de Soto said that it is natural for his team to include lawyers. He declared that he will take part in the talks with a small team, but he declined to give numbers.

Asked if Denktas will meet with President Glafcos Clerides before 16 January, de Soto said: "I do not know; maybe".

The so-called Under Secretary to the Presidency, Mr Ergun Olgun, who attended the meeting between Denktas and Alvaro de Soto also replied to journalists' questions after the meeting. He remarked that de Soto arrived in Cyprus with his usual team, announcing that the 16 January meeting will be held at 10.00 a.m. Olgun said that delegations of four persons each from the Turkish Cypriot side and the Greek Cypriot side will participate in the talks. He said that the names have not been finalized yet.

Meanwhile, the exchange of documents regarding the missing persons issue, which was slated for today, did not take place. Olgun, in a statement to illegal BRT, said that the Greek Cypriots did not submit a document on the missing persons issue, therefore, documents were not exchanged today.

[02] Cag-Sen supports a unified Cyprus

The press release, which was prepared by the Administrative Board of Cag-Sen, calls on the two leaders to abandon fanaticism and work for an honourable peace in a unified Cyprus.

Cag-Sen calls on Denktas to put his signature on an agreement which will represent the rights of the vast majority of the Turkish Cypriots and not those who call the progressive Turkish Cypriots as traitors and work in the framework of the plan prepared by the Turkish National Security Council and the terrorist TMT organization.

And Cag-Sen/s press release concludes: "We support an agreement which will rid the whole island of the borders, the army and the armaments, it will eliminate the pains and hardships of all Cypriots and it will be in conformity with the contemporary, democratic, legal and human rights principles accepted by the international community."

[03] Denktas is intransigent

Makro Research Group, which carried out the opinion poll, among Turkish businessmen, asked the following two questions:

"Do you think that the accusations leveled by the TUSIAD President Tuncay Ozilhan against Denktas that he is intransigent are right?"

To this question 51.2% replied, "Yes" and 46.3% "No", which means, writes AFRICA, that the majority maintains the view that Denktas is intransigent.

The second question was: "Is the Cyprus problem on obstacle on Turkey" EU course?"

And the result was 61% "Yes" and 39% "No". "This is the mood in Turkey," concludes AFRICA.

[B] COMMENTS AND EDITORIALS

[04] The last tango starts in Cyprus

"Cyprus is not on America's agenda at this stage. Only those who work in a small room at the State Department and a handful of people in the administration are concerned with the talks due to start tomorrow between the Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders Denktas and Clerides. The Bush Administration's attention has been riveted on other places. Preoccupied with big troubles they have no eyes for anything else.

However, if no solution can be found and the talks reach an impasse, Cyprus would be likely to claim a place on Washington's agenda next spring. Until then, the developments will be closely followed. They too have been tired of Cyprus. They say this must definitely come to an end. And then they stop. They are all eyeing Denktas and Clerides. And they are waiting to see.

The widely-held conviction is that Denktas does not want a solution and that he will do all he can to send the ball outside the field. Over the years Denktas has created such an impression that even if, from now on, he performed the most exceptional deeds, he would still get blamed.

And Turkey would be presented with the overall bill.

Denktas is at a disadvantage with respect to the international community's "referee" position.

Clerides, on the other hand, is at an advantage in this respect. In the eyes of the international public he is the injured party, a leader who is trying to get back what is his due, a leader who is struggling to rid his country from occupation. However, the situation at the negotiating table is different.

There, Denktas is the party which is at a more advantageous situation from the standpoint of reaching a solution. For him, having the solution accepted by his own public, will not be a problem. On the contrary, he is under pressure to find a solution.

The main problem is on Clerides's shoulders.

Clerides's problem is his own conservatives rather than Denktas

The conservative circles in Cyprus and Greece have been made to believe over the past 24 years consistently that, "Turkey has been fighting a war on Hellenism, and has occupied Cyprus wrongfully." More than one generation has been made to believe that. Young people have been educated on these lines. And, in the end, the majority came to believe that.

The conservative circles in Cyprus and Greece have failed to engage in any self-criticism. They have not asked questions to determine which errors exactly they had made in the pre-1974 period. They have not debated the plots they wove to kick the Turkish Cypriots out of Cyprus and achieve Enosis, that is, annexation with Greece, or the Grivas years or the coup attempts that went all the way to attempting to assassinate Makarios in the end. And they have "crucified" the liberals in Greece and the Greek Cypriot region, the thinkers that put forth such questions.

For the conservative circles the bargaining that starts tomorrow concerns the issue of to what extent the Greek Cypriots will be able to return to the pre-1974 situation. If the migrants manage to be resettled in their old houses and get back at least a considerable part of the island's administration, they will be happy. They see a potential solution from this perspective.

And these circles constitute the biggest problem for Clerides. These circles live out of touch with the realities. They turn a blind eye to the de facto situation. Since they have conducted politics with the same approach all these years, even turned this approach into a life style for themselves, they now persistently refuse to change.

Yet, they should acknowledge the realities

Yet, a solution can be found only by acknowledging the current realities.

A solution can be found if the actual realities -- such as that the Turkish Cypriot region shaped in the aftermath of 1974 will be left to the Turkish Cypriots (the percentage of the territory can be debated), that this region will be governed by the Turkish Cypriots in all aspects, and that no one will be able to claim their old property (while getting compensation to make up for the losses suffered) -- are acknowledged.

Clerides will find it hard to make his own conservatives accept these. He will be accused of betraying his country. He will come under hard-to-endure pressure. His only allies will be the Simitis-Papandreou duo and the international public.

The task that falls on Denktas -- that is, if he really wants a solution -- is to help Clerides on the kind of issues that would strengthen Clerides's hand. This is because the Greek Cypriot side has its own realities just as the Turkish Cypriot side does. The bargaining process would be faced with a dead end if Denktas ignores these realities and tries to make only his own realities accepted.

The last steps of the last tango

Denktas and Clerides will go down in history if they manage to put the two sides' realities into a solution formula. Otherwise they will not be able to transcend the status of two small town politicians.

This bargaining process is the last rendezvous for the two leaders. They have reached the end of their political careers and they stand no chance of sitting down for talks ever again. Whatever they do, they will do it on this particular occasion and they will go down in history accordingly. History does not exalt those leaders who fail to make peace even though they may be acting in the name of protecting the interests of their own countries. Societies do not have to commemorate those leaders who have failed to solve the disputes. On the other hand, they never forget those leaders who bring peace -- good or bad -- those leaders who make a new beginning.

Denktas and Clerides are standing up to dance for the last time the tango they have done nearly for 35 years. They will do the tango for the last time. They know one another very well. They have mastered the dance steps. The only issue that remains is what exactly their intentions are. If they manage to rid themselves of the fixations of the past and see today's realities there is no reason why they should not be able to find a solution.

They should know this very well: If they become "condemned" to their own petty considerations and caprices both of them will be blamed and punished by the important, most influential segment of the public in their own regions".

KV/SK

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