HURRIYET- Columnist Oktay Eksi comments on his meetings yesterday with Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas and Greek Cypriot administration leader Glafcos Clerides, focusing today on the latter. A summary of his column is as follows:
Yesterday I met separately with the two main players on the Cyprus issue, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Rauf Denktas and Greek Cypriot administration leader Glafcos Clerides, at their official residences. Both of them discussed the issue with the firm attitude of long-distance runners, determined not to quit the race without completing their runs. Talking with them led me to think that without changing this approach, they’ll never come to an agreement because they speak about the same subjects but use completely different languages. ‘If Denktas resigns and another person comes in as negotiator, we’ll need to start over from the very beginning,’ Clerides told me, expressing a preference to keep his old interlocutor. When I told Denktas about this, I had the impression that he also preferred to discuss the matter with Clerides, rather than someone else.
Today let’s start with Clerides… I thought that only Denktas was saying that an immediate solution couldn’t be reached on the plan proposed by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan last November. However, Clerides also said, ‘There are a great many issues in the plan which we haven’t been able to address yet. Therefore concluding negotiations before Feb. 28 [the UN deadline] isn’t in the cards.’ In addition, Clerides was pleased with the recent demonstrations against Denktas held in the north. ‘We weren’t expecting such a large turnout,’ he told me, adding that the Greek Cypriot administration had played no role in those demonstrations. ‘Justice and Development Party [AKP] leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he found Turkey’s old policies on Cyprus mistaken,’ Clerides announced. ‘However, he didn’t say what new policies he would replace the old with.’
According to Clerides, ‘If a solution can’t be found concerning the Cyprus issue, the difference in the standard of living between the two sides will grow wider, making finding a solution even harder, so time is of the essence.’ Despite this statement, Clerides seemed relatively relaxed. It seems clear that he’s thinking, ‘We’ll be a European Union member sooner or later. We need not worry.’ As a matter of fact, when he met with Denktas a few days ago, certain conditions that had never been discussed before were suddenly put on the table. For example, he requested that six separate cantons be established for Greek Cypriots settling in Northern Cyprus. In addition, he requested that a Turkish force of 2,000-7,000 soldiers mentioned in Annan’s plan be obliged to leave the island after a certain period of time has passed. Although Denktas considers their presence vital, Clerides seems not to agree. Do you think they can come to a meeting of minds on this?
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION