Cyprus Problem | South’s President Ready to Negotiate, NOT!

Cyprus Problem | South's President Ready to Negotiate, NOT!According to Kibris newspaper (06.02.15) the south’s President Anastasiades made “important statements” yesterday during a press conference organised at the south’s Presidential Palace for Turkish Cypriot and Turkish media. Apparently he said that he is ready to return to the negotiating table and for a solution. However, he won’t be returning to the negotiating table while Turkish ships are close to the oil and gas exploration rigs.

“The Greek Cypriot leader noted that the rights of the Turkish Cypriots on the natural resources were guaranteed in the Talat-Christofias agreement and Hristofias-Eroglu convergence and that he accepts these and he is ready to discuss to which percentage the income which will be secured from the natural resources will be shared between the communities”

Kibris newspaper quotes the president as saying:

“I want the young generations, which represent the future of our country to be rescued from being forced to live in a divided country and to have the fundamental freedoms which the European citizens have. There is only one single plan for this: The transformation of the Republic of Cyprus into a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation with political equality, a single sovereignty, a single citizenship and a single international identity”.

However, Havadis newspaper (06.02.15) reports that in 2011 everything that is happening now, including the NAVTEX instruction by Turkey, had been experienced by the then President Christofias who did not abandon the negotiating table and that contrary to what President Anstasiades was saying, the NAVTEX document of 2011 shows that Piri Reis vessel’s exploration area included the south sea of Cyprus and the parcel 12 in which Noble Energy was conducting explorations at the time.

“Anastasiades stated that the only condition for continuing the negotiations is the departure of Barbaros Hayrettin Pasa vessel from Cyprus. If the NAVTEX is annulled today and Barbaros Hayrettin Pasa returns to Turkey today, tomorrow I am ready to sit at the negotiating table.”

So, what if Anastasiades did return to the negotiating table? How would anything change? He would still demand the same things he demanded before his excuse to leave the table occurred. The talks would therefore still be stalled. The only difference is that, as in 2004 when the south gained entry to the EU and the north gained nothing, this time he would have gas and oil money and the north would have nothing.

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1 comment to Cyprus Problem | South’s President Ready to Negotiate, NOT!

  • Ian Edwards

    How can you have a single sovreignty with two political equals?