The Foreign Minister’s statements don’t contribute positively to the effort to reach a conclusion on the terms of reference
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 3 April 2019, Nicosia
In view of the UN Secretary General envoy on Cyprus Mrs. Lute’s imminent visit and the UN Secretary General’s Report to the Security Council, the President of the Republic must be extremely careful in the positions he expresses. We regret to note that the positions expressed today by the Foreign Minister on the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation radio with regards the issue of political equality and effective participation do not contribute positively to the effort to reach a conclusion on the terms of reference.
The Foreign Minister Mr. Christodoulides argued, inter alia, that a convergence was recorded at Mont Peleran on the issue of effective participation, but that subsequently the Turkish Cypriot side had retreated, given that it returned to the demand for one positive Turkish Cypriot vote for every decision to be taken. Furthermore, he said that we have not changed our position, which is that one positive vote must only exist where the vital interests of the Turkish Cypriot community are affected.
The reality is that there was a convergence recorded for one positive vote in the Cabinet on all issues. Our side’s position for a positive vote only when the Turkish Cypriot community’s vital interests are affected concerned bodies dealing with the low politics issues, never the Cabinet. Indeed, at Mont Peleran 1 a convergence was recorded for the bodies dealing with low politics, and actually the Turkish Cypriot side subsequently retreated by going back to the position for a single positive vote in all these bodies. Mr. Anastasiades, however, retreated from the convergence for a positive vote on all matters in the Cabinet. We recall that the one positive vote replaced the veto enshrined in the Zurich agreements and the paradox is that while the President himself consequently wrongly brought it back, he now rejects even the one positive vote too.
By insisting on this refusal, we cannot expect a positive conclusion with regards the terms of reference, indeed at the same time as the government is stating that we are in a hurry to see the negotiation procedure resume.
If Mr. Anastasiades is genuinely interested in the immediate resumption of the procedure, all he has to do is to make use of what the Foreign Minister himself admitted: namely, that in Mrs. Lute’s mind, the Framework of the Secretary General is quite clear. The Framework insists on the convergences recorded, and consequently on the positive vote too in the Cabinet on all issues, while at the same time it provides for a single positive vote not in all the low politics bodies, but only where vital interests are affected.
