New Talks

The leaders of the two communities in Cyprus, namely President of the Republic of Cyprus Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, will meet on Tuesday, February 21, in the context of the UN-led direct talks to solve Cyprus problem.

The meeting will take place at the Chief of Mission's residence in the United Nations Protected Area of Nicosia and will begin at 10:00 am local time.

Speaking after the last meeting of the two leaders, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in Cyprus Lisa Buttenheim said that at that meeting of next Tuesday the leaders will discuss the property issue.

Historic Service Held At Sumela

Patriarch Vartholomaios leads yesterday’s service at the Sumela Monastery in Trabzon, Turkey. The Turkish government has allowed religious worship to take place there once a year in slow easing of restrictions on religious expression. Until now, the monastery, a site of holy significance to Black Sea Greeks, has been operated as a museum.
The first service to take place in 88 years at the Sumela Monastery in northeast Turkey was described yesterday as a "historic and important" event by Premier George Papandreou, who watched Patriarch Vartholomaios preach to some 1,500 pilgrims, many from Greece and Russia.
"After 88 years, the tears of the Virgin Mary have stopped flowing," said Vartholomaios, the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians, at the 4th-century monastery, built into a sheer cliff in the Trabzon area of Turkey, where tens of thousands of Black Sea, or Pontian, Greeks once lived.

The last service held at the monastery was in 1922, before the last of the Greeks fled the region following the First World War and the conflict between Greece and Turkey. Greece estimates that 350,000 Pontians were killed when they were forced out by the Turks, in what Athens describes as a genocide.
For the first time since then, the Turkish government, which is trying to allow greater religious and ethnic freedom in the country as it attempts to gain entry to the European Union, gave official permission for Vartholomaios to hold a service at Sumela to mark the ascension of Jesus’s mother, Mary, to heaven.
The Patriarch said the event had great symbolism. "This monastery is the bequest of a civilization that had a culture of living together," he said. "Let us ensure this bequest survives so the pain does not reoccur."
The Greeks admitted to the service seemed greatly moved. "For us, the Virgin of Sumela is more important than our mother," said Charalambos Zigas, 51. "Being apart from this place feels like being Odysseus: always searching for your home," Evropi Papadopoulou, 45, told Reuters.
KATHIMERINI - AUGUST 16 2010

Futile Blame Game over Refugees Properties

LAST WEEK’S decision of the European Court of Human Rights continues to be the main issue of public debate, which is no bad thing. After all, this was a wake-up call for all Greek Cypriots who believed that their property rights would be unaffected by the passage of time and bought the politicians’ myth that a settlement was not a matter of urgency.
Unfortunately, the debate has avoided the main point of the ECHR decision, degenerating instead into a blame game. Some have blamed the decision on the lawyer/politicians who encouraged refugees to file over a thousand recourses to the European Court and thus prompting it to propose the setting up of the Immovable Property Commission (IPC) in the north. Others put the responsibility on the refugees (some 400) who applied to the IPC, thus giving it legitimacy. The hard-line politicians, who advocated that the Cyprus problem could be solved in the courts, blamed the judges of the ECHR for taking a politically expedient decision.
In a way everyone was correct. The ECHR wanted to find a way to dismiss the individual property claims of refugees after it was inundated with applications and it set up the IPC. It declared it an acceptable domestic remedy in order to block the submission of more applications. Refugees gave legitimacy to the Commission by applying for compensation, but they had no other choice under the Papadopoulos government which had no interest in pursuing a settlement; they saw the commission as their only hope of getting some compensation for their properties.
And the judges took a political decision, as many lawyer claimed, because they felt the ECHR was being abused by Greek Cypriots. They felt Greek Cypriot property claims could be settled by a political solution to the Cyprus problem, a view endorsed by President Christofias. In short, a combination of factors contributed to the decision released by the Court eight days ago.
The blame-game everyone has been engaging in for the last week is futile, but for the hard-line politicians and their patron the Church, it is preferable than having to deal with the hard choices presented to us by the decision. We either work for a settlement which would not guarantee the return of all the refugees to their homes but would ensure they would be compensated for their properties, or we surrender the occupied part of Cyprus to Turkey and hope that a maximum number of refugees would receive some compensation from the IPC. The ECHR has even placed a December 2011 deadline on applying for compensation. After this, refugees would have no legal claim to their properties in the north.
This is what our wise politicians should be discussing instead of looking for scapegoats to blame the consequences of their short-sighted policies.

Cyprus Mail - March 13, 2010

by Nikos Xydakis

A sense of gloom has descended upon us following the brief hiatus of the festive season, as retail markets contract and households feel increasingly constrained and frightened. This gloom, a prevailing and deep feeling of despondency, has now become a structural characteristic of society that first became apparent back in the summer of 2007.
The financial crisis, pressure from markets and threats of bankruptcy may well transform this despondency into defeatism. And defeatism leads to paralysis. The government, feeling the noose of the markets tightening around its neck and cracking under the pressure from its European partners, is incapable of producing any policy beyond the fiscal discipline measures that are dictated to it. And while trimming the deficit and reducing the debt are clearly issues of crucial importance, they are not the only ones.
The government should first of all be making every effort to fully understand public sentiment, make an accurate assessment of the present reality, safeguard social cohesion and ensure a just and viable plan for growth. Does the government have what it takes to do this?
Its stability plan is all about cutting costs and raising taxes, placating Brussels and appeasing the markets to improve its borrowing prospects. Where, though, is the plan for growth? Where is the light at the end of the tunnel? What does the average person have to expect after three more years of sacrifice? How will small-business owners, 50-year-olds who live in fear of unemployment and farmers who have been left to their own devices pick themselves up? Where will the hundreds of students currently at universities offering an education of questionable quality come into the productive equation? What is the strategy for tourism, agriculture, small and medium-sized enterprises and innovation?
Nothing is said about any of this. Nothing specific. All we get instead are vague announcements about green development on the one hand and, on the other, that all-time favorite, the diversion of the Acheloos River.

The Greek Connection

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou assured on Tuesday that the Greek government would continue to support the negotiating effort of the leaders of the two communities in Cyprus for a solution of the island`s political problem.``We will not be mere observers in this effort,`` he said in a speech before an extraordinary plenary session of the House of Representatives, attended by the state, political, religious and military leadership of the Republic of Cyprus, as well as representatives of organisations, foreign ambassadors, and media representatives from Greece and Cyprus. Papandreou said Greece would undertake initiatives, in the framework of the close cooperation and coordination between the two countries, adding that ``there is no alternative to the reunification of the island`` and ``we will not accept division.`` He said the Cyprus question was a problem of invasion and occupation, and that the aim was to terminate the military occupation, be rid of the threat it constitutes to Cypriot Hellenism, and end the drama of the relatives of missing persons.

EU Warns Turkey

The EU will officially warn Turkey that it has failed to fulfil its obligation to open its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot ships and aircraft, it emerged yesterday.The warning is contained in the European Commission’s (EC) draft report on Turkey’s accession progress, a copy of which was obtained by Bayrak TV in the north of Cyprus. Bayrak TV featured the report in a broadcast on Wednesday, and it received wide coverage in the Turkish press the following day. The report, which is due to be published officially on 14 October, refers to the autumn deadline set for Turkey to comply with this obligation as part of its EU candidacy process. Turkey’s continued non-compliance with this and other obligations resulted in eight of the 35 chapters (policy areas) of its accession negotiation being suspended in December 2006.According to Turkish English-language newspaper Today’s Zaman, “the draft report states that negotiations between the Turkish and Greek Cypriots are continuing, and that no other chapters are planned to be suspended unless there is a demand from member states.”On Thursday, Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Egemen Bagis – who is also his country’s chief EU negotiator – reiterated his government’s position that Turkey had no intention of opening its ports and airports to Cypriot-flagged ships and aircraft until the EU establishes direct trade with the Turkish Cypriots.“There are certain expectations that we will reopen our ports, but there are guarantees Turkey must receive to meet these expectations that have to do with ending the isolation imposed on Turkish Cyprus,” Bagis said.He added: “Until EU countries begin direct trade with Turkish Cyprus and land their planes at Ercan airport, I don't find it sincere or believable that Greek Cypriot planes and ships can use our airports and harbours.”Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said yesterday that Turkey’s obligation to open its ports and airports to Cypriot ships and aircraft is not conditional on any other commitment towards Turkey either by the European Union or Cyprus. He added that the attempt by Bagis to link the lifting of the port embargo with the EU lifting the so-called isolation of the Turkish Cypriots “is outside the letter and the spirit of Ankara’s commitments to the EU and its member states, including Cyprus.”The Foreign Ministry had no comment to offer on the leak of the EC report, other than to say that they “await the publication of the report in October”.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009

Cyprus Problem: the negotiations

The ongoing negotiations on the Cyprus problem are almost devoid of political context. They are 'stand-alone', predominantly bureaucratic and do not reflect the political nature of the problem.
The negotiations must be complemented by a setting in a broader international context in which Turkey has a clear inducement to help achieve and implement a solution. Uncorrected, both deficiencies will derail the negotiations or lead them to a dead end. This would have serious international repercussions and a far broader impact than on Cyprus alone. The two communities in Cyprus will have to agree on the terms of an arrangement whereby they can peacefully live together and experience a common evolution. Given real political will, it should not be too difficult to quickly agree on the basic outlines of a solution, most of which could be adapted from previous proposals.