Brussels, 02/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - The Greek Cypriot chief negotiator in the talks on reunifying the island, Andreas Mavroyiannis, said on Friday 30 January that he hoped that the negotiations, that have been suspended since the start of October, might resume between now and April.
“The most important thing for us is to return, one way or another, to the way things were under the conditions that we obtained at the end of September and let's say that we are hopeful that this will be possible by April at the latest”, he told a small group of journalists, including EUROPE. Presidential elections are due to be held in April in the northern Turkish Republic of Cyprus, which is recognised only by Turkey. “Things aren't totally deadlocked. We have a few possibilities”, Mavroyiannis added.
He acknowledged, however, that, despite all the efforts, it was proving difficult to restart negotiations. “We are still working to find a way forward but we have nothing really tangible”, he stated. “We need to get back round the table. Leaving the negotiating table is easy, returning to it is more difficult”, he added. Mavroyiannis stated that, ever since the Republic of Cyprus had decided no longer to take part in meetings, it had been working hard to restart talks.
Negotiations were suspended at the start of October after a Turkish vessel entered the Cypriot exclusive economic zone. “In similar circumstances, other member states may have reacted differently, for example by sending ships or airplanes. We have nothing like that but we had to show that this action was illegal under international law and that, under such circumstances, it couldn't just be business as usual. For that reason, the president of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, decided not to attend meetings to do with the negotiations”, said Mavroyiannnis.
In his view, the action by Turkey is less about the Cypriot issue and has more to do with showing that it is upset by the growing cooperation in the energy sector between Cyprus, Egypt and Israel. Mavroyiannis suggested further that Turkey was wanting to show that nothing should happen in the region without it. Yet, gas could form part of the negotiations. At the start of January, Anastasiades indicated that the issue of territory could give rise to energy issues. (CG)