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.

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

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.

The European Elections 2009

The following article caught my attention in today's issue of The Cyprus Mail:

Time to overcome ingrained habits
IN LESS than a week’s time, Cypriots will join an estimated 375 million people across the EU in the opportunity to elect their representatives to a new European Parliament. Unlike their fellow Europeans, most Cypriot voters will dutifully go to polling stations and cast their ballot, exercising their democratic right in one of the world’s biggest elections.Of course, the turnout will have much more to do with the ingrained habit of voting than with any enthusiasm for the institution being elected – a result both of the compulsory participation in national elections, and of the hyper-politicisation of everyday life in a country where prime time talk shows still feature politicians rather than celebrities, and party political allegiance spreads its tentacles into everything from football to the coffee that you drink.It’s hardly a surprise that the European election campaign is being treated by the parties as a real-time opportunity to test the political waters, just over a year after the Presidential elections – an extremely useful gauge of popularity at a time when coalition partners appear to have increasingly itchy feet. Indeed, only a desperate idealist would expect genuine European issues to be at the forefront of the campaign, in a political society where the Cyprus problem juggernaut time and again crushes debate on any other issue – even those of immediate national concern, let alone those perceived as remote.But we should not be too harsh on Cyprus: how many people in the UK will vote on European issues? Indeed how many will vote at all? A far lower percentage than in Cyprus. And those that do cast their vote will do so based on very domestic concerns, such as the current MPs’ expenses scandal, likely to benefit fringe parties in protest at the mainstream. And it’s not just European elections: around the world, local elections are almost always fought on national issues, providing an opportunity to punish or reward the government of the day.And yet it’s a great pity that almost no one across the European Union gives the European Parliament elections the attention they deserve – especially given the repeated complaints about the democratic deficit in the EU. There’s a widespread misconception that the European Parliament is a pointless institution, little more than a gravy train for politicians past their prime.And yet anyone concerned about the democratic accountability of the European Union has a duty to vote on Saturday. The European Parliament is the one European institution to be directly elected by the people, and the EU’s executive is directly accountable to Parliament: MEPs must approve the President and members of the European Commission before they can take office, and Parliament has a right to sack them. What’s more, it is the European Parliament that holds the purse strings of the EU, and has the last word on its annual budget, and Parliament that passes laws that end up on the statute books of all 27 countries of the European Union.So while our politicians are spouting on about the Cyprus problem, MEPs in their last term have passed laws about everything from recycling to maternity leave, pollution caps to the right to cross-border health care, passenger rights to cheaper GSM roaming charges, working hours to airline safety, sanctions against employers of illegal immigrants to cleaner bathing waters on our beaches. And let’s not forget that it was the European Parliament that blew the whistle on CIA rendition flights and the complicity of European member states in the illegal transportation of detainees.MEPs are dealing with very real issues, their votes having a very real impact on our everyday lives. And while the six Cypriot representatives elected next weekend are unlikely to sway the votes in plenary, their role in looking out for their constituents’ interests cannot be overestimated. They will lobby to amend legislation, they will build alliances, they will work in committee, they will draft reports, and their success or failure will probably have a far greater impact on our daily lives than the work of our national deputies at the House of Representatives in Nicosia.Come Saturday at the polling stations, the voters should not reward the loudest patriot and the slickest slogans. In a Parliament of 785 members working in 23 languages, bombastic talk from one of the smallest members of the Union will carry little weight. In order to leverage influence, the members we elect must work hard, understand the nature of compromise, and above all grasp the bigger picture of the institution they will join. If they do that, they will build a credibility among their colleagues that will allow them to defend our interests in a forum that really matters to our daily lives.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009

This article is the subjective opinion of a "journalist" who doesn't even have the courage to sign off. Therefore, it is the newspaper's responsibility for publishing the subjective opinion of an anonymous person who, I am afraid, hasn't made a basic research:

- According to official polls more than 75% of the Greek Cypriots will cast their vote (and the number is expected to increase) not out of habit due to the fact that our national elections are compulsory, but because the Greeks of Cyprus have decided to make their own choice!

- Of course domestic issues will play an important role! Is it different in other European countries, I wonder? Of course, we will vote those who we believe will represent us best in the European Union. Luckily, the anonymous writer acknowledges, more or less, this fact! Kind of contradicting himsself / herself or what?

- The person who wrote this article hides behind anonimity because he / she is the one to be the victim of ingrained habits - not the average Greek Cypriot who is fully aware of his European identity.