BY YUSUF KANLI
HURRIYET DAILY NEWS- After an almost two-month break because of the April Turkish Cypriot presidential elections that brought an end to the Mehmet Ali Talat's presidency and brought in President Dr. Dervi_ Erodlu, the Cyprus direct talks process resumed Tuesday in a United Nations building in the former Nicosia International Airport area in the buffer zone dividing this Mediterranean island from east to west into northern Turkish Cypriot and southern Greek Cypriot districts.
Neither Erodlu nor his Greek Cypriot counterpart Demetris Christofias made any disclosure about the meeting, but the two leaders were scheduled to concentrate on the "property" heading at their first encounter. The property chapter was handled 17 times in the previous process by Talat and Christofias but the two, like all on other chapters, achieved some "convergences" but failed to reach an agreement on the issue.
The so far still elusive target of the talks, at least for the Turkish Cypriots, Turkey, the United Nations secretary-general, United States, headed by Britain and the EU Commission many members of the European Union and other members of the international community interested in a Cyprus settlement, is to reach a federal resolution of the more than 45-year-old problem of power sharing between the two peoples of the eastern Mediterranean island. Because of strong opposition from the Greek Cypriot side to a timetable for the process, however, efforts of Ankara and the Turkish Cypriot side for the introduction of a deadline to the talks have so far all failed. Yet, headed by the U.N. Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon there has been an increased international understanding for Turkish Cypriot view that these talks cannot continue forever.
At yesterday's resumption session of the process, U.N. secretary-general's special advisor for Cyprus, former Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, read a statement from the secretary-general. The secretary-general, bringing an end to persistent cries in the Greek Cypriot side that new Turkish Cypriot leader Erodlu should reaffirm his commitment to the "parameters" agreed on in the previous Talat-Christofias talks, stressed that he was encouraged that Erodlu and Christofias have agreed to resume the talks "on the basis of the U.N. parameters, Security Council resolutions and the joint statements made on 23 May and July 1, 2008." The May 23 and July 1, 2008, joint statements underline that the new Cyprus federation will be established by "two constituent states" on the basis of single state, single citizenship, and single international identity. While Erodlu is known to be allergic to the unqualified "single sovereignty" embedded in the "single state" reference in those parameters from the evening of May 23, that is only hours after the meeting Christofias has been expressing opposition to the "two constituent states" and instead has been using "two units" description. Then, to what extent the secretary-general was correct in assuming that the two sides have agreed to continue the process on those parameters?
--End of 2010--
New Turkish Cypriot leader Dr. Erodlu and Ankara have been stressing for some time that a settlement of the Cyprus problem by the end of 2010 is within reach, should the Greek Cypriot side have the political will to reach a compromise deal with their Turkish Cypriot partners on the basis of bi-zonality, bi-communality and political equality of the two sovereign constituent states of the future federation.