UN Secretary General’s Special Advisor on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide said that negotiations have never been so advanced in any configuration between Cypriots.
In statements to CNA from Athens after talks with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, he said even if major issues remain to be solved, the tone that prevails is different.
“Of course we still have to find a way out of the security and guarantees questions, which are big which is why I am here and last time I was in Ankara and talked to them”, said.
In his remarks to CNA, he said he “will create no illusions that we are close to a deal on these issues”, adding that the tone that prevails in the talks on these issues is “completely different” from what he had imagined was there before. Eide said that both sides have their “starting points” but also a “willingness to listen and to discuss”.
“I think the key here is that the two communities need to understand why Cypriots have ended up in a situation where one community has developed a fear of the other side and is trying to mitigate that fear by taking precautions against the other side. Why the one side feels that it needs the presence of Turkish troops and why the other side feels that the presence of Turkish troops is the biggest security issue”. Eide explained that it may seem distant but it did happen even in countries that have been through civil war and overcame it and once they did, the people were wondering what was the reason the conflict began in the first place. “So that is what we are looking for”, he said.
As for the guarantor powers, Eide said that it is useful that are not intervening in those issues with which they are not pertaining to them. Obviously, he added, “they have to be part of the discussions that do pertain to them because today there are three international treaties that they have signed with Cyprus and if you want to do something about it, you need help from the guarantors otherwise this conflict will continue”.
Eide pointed out that the negotiations “have never been so advanced in any configuration between Cypriots”.
“The negotiations have never been so advanced in any configuration between Cypriots. You have to take out the final Annan plan because it was a UN plan and it failed. But when it comes to negotiations between the two sides we are ahead of where we have even been before, Cyprus has ever been before. What changed? Of course there are many individual issues but that is not the answer”, Eide said.
The UN envoy explained what has changed things is a “combination” of two things, “I think the understanding of each other that the frequent talks have created which means that both President Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Akinci is not necessary that they agree on everything but they have developed a much better understanding of why does my counterpart has another view from what I have and actually started to respect that if I was him maybe I would have that position”.
Eide remarked “if you come in to negotiate thinking that all my points are obviously right and all his points are obviously wrong you wont get far. This understanding is one thing and takes time and trust and trust has been built”.
The second factor, according to Eide, is that both leaders and their teams take into account the international environment and realize the momentum that exists and is good, but not eternal. History will judge harshly if this opportunity fails, adding that “if it fails for something big, ok”, but “if it fails for a small issue it doesn’t really look good. You have to take the best out of this opportunity”, he stressed.
UN-led peace talks are underway between President Anastasiades and Akinci since May last year with a view to finding a negotiated settlement, to reunite Cyprus, divided since the 1974 Turkish invasion.
Tomorrow Wednesday, the leaders of the two communities in Cyprus convene for the last time in their intensified round of discussions and will issue a press release which will record in a nutshell the results of this round of talks.