Speech of Andros Kyprianou, General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL, to the GUE/NGL Bureau in Cyprus on the subject:”The current phase of the Cyprus problem”
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 4th December 2015, Nicosia
Welcome to our beautiful and long-suffering island in the south eastern border of the European Union and in an area that resembles an active volcano. The situation in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East in general is tending to assume uncontrollable proportions and to lead to a wider conflict. The pressing need is to address the root causes which are creating more and more hotbeds of tension and for policies to prevail which can lead to a stable and lasting peace in the region. Europe is not blameless for ISIS – type phenomena. Perhaps the most tragic aspect of the extremely dangerous and worrying situation in our troubled region is the human lives lost daily in Mediterranean waters. The flow of migrants cannot be handled by sporadic actions designed simply to stop desperate people who are putting their very own lives in immediate danger in their efforts to escape the horrors of war. It is time for Europe to ask itself why the so-called “Arab Spring” has in the end turned out to be a heavy winter for the region’s peoples.
Cyprus is literally just a breath away from what is happening around it and of course we have every reason to be extremely worried. When your neighbour’s house is burning you cannot feel safe. For the time being the fire of war has not burnt us, but this doesn’t mean we should be complacent. Besides, we also have our own political unsolved problem. For forty one years now there are Turkish troops in Cyprus occupying 40% of our territory. Our country is still divided. Nicosia, your host, is the last and only divided capital in Europe. Almost one in three of our compatriots have been uprooted as refugees in their own homeland. Tens of thousands of settlers from Turkey have been transported to our occupied territories, already exceeding the number of Turkish Cypriots.
The presence of the English bases imposed on us by the Treaty of Establishment in 1960 is also another important burden we are carrying. Obviously, the fact that they often have been an aggressive launching pad for Britain and NATO in their expansionist wars and invasions that have brought the Middle East to its current situation is for us to be condemned. The abolition of the bases remains for AKEL a second arena of struggle. But it is a front we cannot open at a time when all of our forces must be exhausted on the direction of the solution. We point out that if and when the intention expressed by Britain is fulfilled, with the solution, approximately 50% of the territories now included in the bases will be returned.
All these years many efforts have been made for a solution of the Cyprus problem, but unfortunately to no avail. Currently another attempt is underway. We hope that this will finally have a positive outcome. We seek a solution based on the principles of International Law, the UN Charter and the principles on which the European Union is founded; a solution based on the High-Level Agreements between the leaders of the two communities; a solution that ensures a single sovereignty, a single international personality and a single citizenship of the Federal Republic; a solution that will respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Cypriots without discrimination; a solution that ensures the withdrawal of the occupation troops and settlers; a bi-communal, bi-zonal federal solution with political equality of the two communities, as defined in relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions.
The negotiation procedure is now in full swing. This time we can and must arrive at a successful outcome. This is what the interests of the Cypriot people as a whole ∙ Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Armenians, Maronites and Latins – demand. The correct solution of the Cyprus problem is in the interests of peace in the region. We can represent a shining example of peaceful coexistence of different communities, cultures and religions. However, we believe that the well-intentioned interests of Turkey also demand the solution of our political problem. We do not understand the reason why Turkey maintains occupation forces on our island, at a severe political and economic cost for the country. Forty one years should be enough for Ankara to understand that the goal of de jure recognition of a second state on the island is unfeasible. This of course not only has to do with the Cyprus problem, but is also due to wider reasons which necessitate the avoidance of a precedent that will encourage separatist tendencies in a world of 193 states and 5-6,000 different population groups, ethnic communities, or whatever they want to be termed. In saying this, of course, I do not at all underestimate the danger of the recognition of the Turkish Cypriot pseudo-state by a regime of the type of Taiwan, but for sure not official recognition. Why, then, does Turkey insist on maintaining an illegal and unrecognized formation when it knows very well that the solution of the Cyprus problem will fully safeguard the rights of the Turkish Cypriot community?
Furthermore, Turkey has not abandoned its European ambitions. Instead, it has been encouraged with the recent approaches made towards it by the European Union at the EU-Turkey Summit. However, it knows that the Cyprus problem is an obstacle to these aspirations. On this opportunity, I want to stress here that we are not opposed to Turkey’s EU aspirations, but it will find us opposing it if it does not fulfil its obligations on Cyprus. The truth is that if Turkey cooperates for a solution of the Cyprus problem one of the biggest, if not the biggest obstacle to its European perspective, will be set aside.
The Joint Declaration of the EU Summit has given to Turkey all the support so that in the first quarter of 2016 – which also coincides chronologically with the prospect of progress on the Cyprus problem – to concretely prove its good intentions which it proclaims. If and when it does so, that is to say whether it contributes positively to all that is ongoing in relation to the Cyprus problem, if it no longer provokes problems to the Republic of Cyprus and if it fulfils all those legally binding commitments arising from the negotiating framework, the counter-statement of 2005, the Additional Protocol and the decisions of the EU Council, then our own reservations will also be lifted. Furthermore, the upgrading of the Customs Union will proceed and the opening of negotiating chapters will be possible.
Natural gas constitutes an additional factor that makes the solution of the Cyprus problem beneficial for Turkey. Ankara knows that the only peaceful available way for both our Turkish Cypriot compatriots and Turkey itself to benefit from the discovery of hydrocarbons in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Republic of Cyprus is the solution of the Cyprus problem. I would like to point out that Christofias-Talat had achieved such important convergences on the issues of the maritime zones, natural resources and the allocation of the federal revenues which, with the solution of the Cyprus problem, will automatically also resolve the issues related to natural gas.
Finally, as always we believe that the manifold problems Turkey is currently facing both with most of its neighbouring states and internally, makes its final release from the Cyprus problem imperative.
However, besides the serious reasons which objectively make it advantageous for Turkey to solve the Cyprus problem, the situation on the island today opens a window of opportunity that we should all be utilizing. It is the first time in five years that mobility is being observed on our political problem. This is so because from April 2010, that is to say when Mr. Eroglu assumed the leadership of the Turkish Cypriot community, not only was the significant progress that had been achieved between Christofias – Talat terminated, but a dramatic setback was also registered. Eroglu did not hesitate to torpedo the key Christofias – Talat convergences, to demand negotiations and in the end to terminate any substantive discussion on the pretext of the Cyprus Presidency of the European Union. Following that, the presidential elections of February 2013 were held which were won by Nikos Anastasiades.
From the beginning AKEL clarified to the new President of the Republic that we do not intend to follow a revanchist policy. We therefore would not do what he did during the last three years of the Christofias government. That is to say, when he was exercising destructive opposition on the Cyprus problem to serve petty expediencies. We believe that the solution of the Cyprus problem is of top priority and therefore we support the negotiation procedure, but this certainly does not mean that we give a blank check and a free hand to Mr. Anastasiades. We were tirelessly stressing to the President that he should continue the negotiations from where we left off with Talat and not start negotiations from scratch – not for reasons of vindicating our position, not because we consider during the Christofias presidency everything was done to perfection. To put it simply, we believed it was not possible with Eroglu to modify in the Greek Cypriot side’s favour convergences that were achieved with Talat.
Unfortunately, at that time we were completely alone in our position. All the other political parties and the President himself followed the logic of rejecting the Christofias-Talat convergences. This continued in essence until April 2015 and the result was a significant widening of the gap between the two sides. Even worse, as soon as Eroglu realized that President Anastasiades had a problem with these convergences, he himself and from a safe position all of a sudden adopted them. That is to say, he entered into the blame game and indeed with success, given that in the beginning of 2014 the UN Secretary General submitted a report to the Security Council, which was the worst submitted since 2004 for the Greek Cypriot side. Indeed, this even happened while the Turkish vessel “Barbaros” was making explorations in the southern part of the EEZ of the Republic of Cyprus, in an area designated with neighbouring states, in licensed sites and opposite the coasts of our free areas.
In April 2015 Mustafa Akinci assumed the leadership of the Turkish Cypriot community. This is a moderate politician who was always fighting for a solution of the Cyprus problem. Coupled with the fact that President Anastasiades is now also starting to make use of Christofias-Talat convergences, progress has begun to be observed in the negotiation procedure. I will not go into details about where this effort is at because you will be informed during the second part of our meeting today. I would, however, like to emphasize that it is important that now we do not have a regression, or stagnation. On the contrary, progress is being made at the negotiating table for the first time after five whole years. This, however, is far from any over-optimistic estimates that a solution is imminent in the period immediately ahead of us, perhaps even before the upcoming parliamentary elections to be held next May.
There are still serious issues to be agreed upon before we can be in a position to talk about an imminent solution. For example, the critical chapters of the territorial issue, guarantees and security have not yet been discussed. Who can pre-empt the outcome, especially when on most of the remaining issues it is Turkey and no one else who is called upon to take serious decisions?
AKEL, always committed to the goal of the solution of the Cyprus problem on the basis of the agreed principles and framework outlined above, is working in a concrete way to overcome the remaining obstacles. We are the party of rapprochement, which we always promote and we are pleased that more and more political parties recognize this necessity. Within this framework we have established working groups with three Turkish Cypriot parties: the Republican Turkish Party, whose president is the former Turkish Cypriot leader Mr. Talat, the Communal Democracy Party which was founded by the current Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci and the United Cyprus Party of Mr. Izzet Izcan. These are the parties supporting Mr. Akinci and certainly their political voice has its own importance in the formulation of the positions of the Turkish Cypriot side. The aim of these working groups is of course not the substitution of the negotiating procedure. This is the responsibility of the two leaders. The objective is to contribute towards overcoming specific obstacles at the negotiating table. I am pleased to tell you that we are on track in this effort, a fact which is also reflected in the negotiations. At the same time, as much as we can, we are helping President Anastasiades through the submission of concrete proposals and opinions.
The conjuncture that currently exists for a solution of the Cyprus problem must not be missed. Circumstances come and go and the duty of every responsible political force is to do what it can on its part to utilize them. You never know if and when the next conjuncture will come. The only thing certain is that the aimless passage of time creates situations that are difficult to reverse, even if the necessary political will exists on all sides. The solution of the Cyprus problem is, I repeat, in the interests of the Cypriot people as a whole; in the interests of Greece, Turkey, the European Union and the people of our troubled region.
Undoubtedly, what is happening in our area could have led to a dwindling of the interest in the peace process in Cyprus. However, we underline that on the contrary, what is happening in our region make an intensified effort imperative and we need your help in our efforts.
Thank you for being here. This is a practical example of GUE/NGL’s solidarity with the struggle of the Cypriot people. I want to wholeheartedly thank you because you support us over time on the basis of principles. I am confident that our meeting today will contribute to the further invaluable contribution in the immense efforts we are making for a solution, for the liberation and reunification of our country and people.
