Cyprus talks to start at the end of June
Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders are expected to start the talks for the reunification of the island at the end of June, Turkish Cypriot leader said on Saturday. Mehmet Ali Talat also reitreted his optimism for solution efforts.
The election of new Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias gave a new impetus to efforts to find a solution to Cyprus issue. The technical committees held their first formal meeting on Friday to make preparations for the comprehensive negotiations.
A positive atmosphere has been prevailing on Cyprus now, and the leaders are endeavoring to help this atmosphere lead to a solution, Talat told in a speech at the opening of the second "Northern Cyprus Summit of European Parliamentarians of Turkish Origin."
He said working groups would submit reports to the leaders about the topics on which consensus could and could not be reached.
"We (Cypriot leaders) are going to meet after three months, at the end of July, and start comprehensive negotiations," Talat was quoted as saying by the state-run Anatolian Agency.
Talat and Christofias met on Mar 21 and decided to revive reunification talks as well as to open another crossing point in the capital Nicosia as a goodwill gesture. The reunification talks are stalled since 2004 when the Greek Cypriots rejected a UN blueprint. Turkish Cypriots had overwhelmingly approved the plan. The rival leaders will meet on May 7.
"The solution will not be easy. Both parties have indispensable wishes. We will be in an effort to eliminate them and believe that international community should assist on the matter," Talat added.
The international community welcomes the renewed efforts. The UN Security Council on Friday expressed hope they will lead to the reunification of the island, as the Europen Union said it would support all efforts.
The EU's Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, said on Saturday the European Union would support all efforts that lead to a comprehensive solution coming from both Turkish and Greek parts, at his reply to motion brought to European Parliament regarding Cyprus, ANKA reported.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Monday, March 31, 2008
U.N. envoy takes pulse for Cyprus reunification bid
Senior United Nations official began three days of talks on Monday with Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, taking the pulse for negotiations on reunifying the divided island, expected in three months' time.
A spokesman for the United Nations mission in Cyprus said Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe "is here to try to determine how the U.N. can best help the efforts of the parties to relaunch the process for negotiations".
Greek and Turkish Cypriots have been estranged since a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek inspired coup. Peace talks collapsed in 2004 when Greek Cypriots rejected a U.N. reunification blueprint accepted by Turkish Cypriots.
The Greek Cypriots represent Cyprus in the European Union and have a veto over the EU accession bid of Turkey, which keeps some 30,000 troops in north Cyprus.
Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias, elected president a month ago, has vowed to press ahead with reunification talks with Mehmet Ali Talat, the Turkish Cypriot leader.
"I'm always optimistic," Pascoe told reporters after a meeting with Christofias on Monday.
Both sides have agreed to resume peace talks by the end of June. Aides have launched
consultations on negotiation topics including property and territory disputes as part of preparation for talks.
The sides are in the meantime expected to dismantle a poignant symbol of decades of division when they open up the Ledra Street thoroughfare in the centre of divided capital Nicosia to pedestrians in early April.
The street runs across the east-west ceasefire line bisecting Nicosia and marks the spot where the first seeds of division were sown in the late 1950s, when Cyprus was still a British colony.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Cyprus' Cristofias ready for workable solution
Cypriot President Demetris Cristofias said on Wednesday that he was ready to reach a workable solution with Turkish Cypriots over the island's decades-old division.
"We want a workable solution as soon as possible," he told journalists ahead of a meeting on Friday with Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat.
"At the same time, we believe it is not productive to act in haste without the necessary preparation that would allow progress to be achieved.
New window of opportunity opens for Cyprus problem
As Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders are preparing to resume stalled reunification talks on Friday, a new window of opportunity has opened for a solution to the decades-old Cyprus problem.
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, like all his predecessors, has offered to help the two communities on the eastern Mediterranean island move toward reunification.
"We hope that we will be able to see improvement and make some breakthrough in this long-pending issue in Europe," Ban said Monday.
The secretary-general said the international community should "seize the momentum and the window of opportunity" presented by Demetris Christofias' election in Cyprus and his commitment to the resolution of the issue.
Divided island with uncompromising parties
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey militarily intervened and occupied the northern third of the island followinga failed coup by a group of Greek officers who pushed for union with Greece.
In 1983, the Turkish Cypriot authorities declared a breakaway and set up "the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus," recognized only by Turkey.
The United Nations has been trying for several decades to persuade the two communities to find a viable solution to the issue.
In an April 2004 referendum, Greek Cypriots led by then hard line President Tassos Papadopoulos rejected a comprehensive settlement plan proposed by then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, arguing it would favor Turkey and Turkish Cypriots and hurt Greek Cypriots' rights.
The Greek Cypriot south joined the EU in May 2004 on behalf of the whole Republic of Cyprus, but the new member has been "in the EU doghouse," as Greek Cypriot journalist Jean Christou recently described.
Turkish Cypriots have said they do not want permanent partition, and welcomed the UN blueprint in the 2004 referendum.
Meanwhile, they have spared no effort to open trade offices overseas and strengthen ties within the Islamic world with the help of Ankara, in a bid to break what they call the "isolation" enforced by the Greek Cypriots.
New momentum by pro-solution president
Papadopoulos' uncompromising attitude towards the Cyprus problem cost him his re-election bid last month. Most Greek Cypriot voters have realized that the long impasse will only lead to permanent division.
Moreover, the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo,coinciding with the latest presidential election in Cyprus, underlined the urgency of settling the Cyprus issue.
Left-wing moderate Demetris Christofias replaced Papadopoulos as the new president and Greek Cypriot leader, and has pledged to make reunification his government's top priority.
Last week, Christofias met with EU leaders in Brussels on the sidelines of a European Council meeting, outlining his vision for a solution to the Cyprus issue, which was acknowledged by the 27-member bloc.
On the other side, Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, who met with Ban Ki-Moon last week in Senegal during a summit of the Organization of Islamic Conference, assured the UN chief of his commitment to revive the stalled negotiations.
Both leaders have indicated the possibility of announcing after their first meeting the opening of Ledra Street in the heart of the old walled city of Nicosia, bisected by the UN monitored Green Line since the 1960s following violence between the two communities.
Such a move of opening a crossing point on the busy commercial street will be regarded as a goodwill gesture from both sides.
Big challenges ahead
Cyprus gained independence from British colonial rule in 1960 and established a power-sharing constitution between the Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities.
The power sharing system collapsed in 1964 amid inter-communal violence. A UN peacekeeping force was sent to prevent further fighting in what has become one of its longest operations.
Since Turkish troops entered the north in 1974, the UN peacekeepers have been supervising ceasefire lines, maintaining a buffer zone and undertaking humanitarian activities.
Greek Cypriots feel the problem originated with the Turkish invasion and have called for a full and immediate withdrawal of the estimated 35,000 Turkish troops in the country.
But in the eyes of Turkish Cypriots, the problem is rooted in the bloody violence of the 1960s, when Greek Cypriot extremists attempted to drive the Turkish Cypriot minority out of the island to promote Enosis, the movement of the Greek-Cypriots to push for union with Greece.
The Greek Cypriots, rejecting the Annan plan, demand negotiations based on a procedure agreement reached by the two sides in July 2006.
But the Turkish Cypriots believe the Annan plan can help resolve many problems, and any negotiations for change need to be based on that plan.
They pursue a new partnership state based on "the political equality of the two peoples and the equal status of two constituent states", as Talat has reiterated.
Even if the first encounter between the two leaders goes well, full-fledged negotiations are not expected until a UN evaluation team headed by Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe visits the island.
Following his dialogue with all related parties scheduled for the beginning of April, Pascoe will report to the UN chief and to the Security Council for a decision on what role the UN can play to broker an agreement between the two communities.
When substantial negotiations kick off, a number of tough issues will appear on the table, including security, property, return of refugees, Turkish settlers and guarantor status.
Tens of thousands of Turkish settlers have arrived on the island since 1974. The Annan plan foresaw 40,000 returning to Turkey, which many Greek Cypriots considered too few.
The guarantor status, held by Britain, Turkey and Greece through the Treaty of Guarantee of 1960, gives the three countries the legal right to intervene in the island's affairs, based on which Turkey conducted its military intervention in 1974.
Greek Cypriots, on the other hand, view the colonial-style guarantors as unacceptable.
All these thorny issues require painful compromises from both communities as well as Turkey, to whom Talat, the Turkish Cypriot leader, has to defer.
However, this is the first time that the two communities have a pro-solution leader on each side, thus creating the possibility of an imminent resolution of the Cyprus problem.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Northern Cyprus FM Reacts To Greek Cyriot Leader For His Remarks Against Turkey
FM Turgay Avci of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) reacted Friday to Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christofias, who talked about Turkey as "occupier."
"He (Christofias) should not forget that he owes his life to Turkey and the (Cyprus) Peace Operation as many other members of AKEL," he told.
Christofias was elected on February 24th and took office on February 28th.
Avci said Christofias talks about a federative solution but at the same time he demands destroying UN regulations and solution parameters.
"He has demands that will turn Turkish Cypriot people a minority in its own state, force them to migration and to leave island with an inhumane understanding," he said.
On the other hand, Avci said Turkish Cypriots are ready for a new partnership based on political equality of the two nations, bi-zonal structure, equal status of founder states, and effective and de facto guarantee of Turkey.
"We have set end of 2008 as a target, and motherland Turkey is supporting this stance. However, the statements of the Greek Cypriot administration indicates that this side is not ready to reach an agreement in a short time but is planning to maintain the status quo in order to gain time," he told.
Northern Cyprus's Nami To Meet Iacovou On Wednesday
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Mehmet Ali Talat's Special Representative Ozdil Nami is expected to meet George Iacovou,commissioner of the Greek Cypriot administration, on Wednesday.
Nami and Iacovou will meet for preparation of the talks expected to take place between Talat and Greek Cypriot administration leader Demetris Christofias between March 17th and 24th.
Drought-hit Cyprus seeks water from Lebanon
"One key measure we are looking at is the transportation of water in tankers from a neighbouring country, and our efforts are focusing on Lebanon," Michalis Polynikis told reporters after holding a crisis meeting on Friday.
He said experts are now examining the feasibility of shipping large quantities of water by tanker from Lebanon, with a final decision expected within 10 days.
Polynikis said Lebanon is willing to give Cyprus large quantities of water free of charge, so the only cost would be transportation. There is also the logistics of getting the water from the ports to a reservoir once it arrives by ship.
Crisis talks were held to find ways to survive a chronic water shortage brought on by a two-year drought and unseasonal warm weather.
Polynikis said he was searching for the "least painful" alternative for Cypriot citizens.
Another option under review is imposing water quotas for every household and those found exceeding the limit being charged a premium.
Although opposed to water cuts, Polynikis said a quota system on consumption would "send the message to ordinary people that they must conserve water".
A regime of on-the-spot fines for water wasters seems to have failed to raise awareness over the island's dwindling water resources.
Cyprus's reservoirs are now at only 10.4 percent of capacity, down from 25.6 percent this time last year.
Rainfall for the winter months is well below the average expected for the period, with precipitation failing to reach 50 percent of the norm.
As part of a longer-term solution to the holiday island's water problems the government plans to build more desalination plants and bolster output from existing ones.
After April, heavy rain is not expected before October.
Cyprus reunification can bring huge economic benefits
A solution to the decades-old Cyprus problem will not only reunite the divided island, but also bring at least 1.8 billion euro every year in new business with Turkey and other opportunities, according to an academic report released on Thursday.
The report, entitled "The day after: Commercial opportunities following a solution to the Cyprus problem," was based on a research sponsored by the International Peace Research Institute in Norway.
A group of Greek and Turkish Cypriot researchers conducted the survey. According to their calculations, the reunification of Cyprus would bring each Cypriot family a dividend of 5,500 euro per year in the first seven years.
Such a solution will especially bring benefits for tourism, construction, university education sectors, finance and legal service and trade companies. Trade in goods and services with Turkey is expected to boom.
"A just settlement will mean increased security for the people of Cyprus, greater stability for the region, increase in trade and provision of services, the creation of conditions that will allow culture and art to flourish, and the emergence of Cyprus as a model of peaceful coexistence in a world riven by division," said Michael Moller, the UN Secretary General's Special Representative to Cyprus.
He added that the research "makes an extremely valuable contribution to discussion about the future of the island."
Cyprus was divided in 1974 when the Turkey militarily intervened and occupied the north of Cyprus following a coup by a group of Greek officers, who pushed for a quick union with Greece.
In 1983, the Turkish Cypriot authorities declared breakaway from Cyprus and set up "the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus," which is only recognized by Turkey.
Ankara does not recognize the government of Cyprus Republic, which only controls the Greek Cypriot south. The isolated north has to trade with other parts of the world through Turkey, with the economy depending heavily on financial aids from Ankara.
Expectations seem very high recently as both the newly elected Greek Cypriot president and Turkish Cypriot leader have agreed to meet very soon to revive the stalled reunification process.
Cyprus president 'plans for unity'
Dimitris Christofias, the newly elected president of Cyprus, has said that he will make a serious effort to meet Mehmet Ali Talat, the Turkish Cypriot leader, later this month. No firm date has been fixed but Christofias said that he hoped to meet Talat anytime between March 17 and 24.
The election of Christofias as the president, last month, has renewed hopes that the 34-year-old division of Cyprus can be resolved amicably.
"Our wish and our efforts are to have the issue solved during this term. If it was only up to us, I could say it will be solved. But it also depends on the other side."
Meanwhile, Talat, Christofias's counterpart in Turkish controlled Cyprus, said that there was hope for resolving the Cyprus problem, by the end of this year.
On Wednesday, Christofias said that though his first meeting with Talat would only be exploratory, he hoped the two would agree to open two new crossing points on the divided island.
One would be at Ledra Street, a busy pedestrian thoroughfare in the heart of Cyprus' capital, and the other at Limnitis in the northwest of the island.
The president said that Ledra street embodies the island's division and opening a crossing there would be highly symbolic for the people of the island.
There have been five crossing points between the two sides of the island since Turkish Cypriot authorities relaxed restrictions in 2003.
Christofias said that his ultimate goal would be a unified, demilitarised Cyprus.
"We have no plans to touch the British bases in Cyprus but full demilitarisation of the island remains a long-term goal," he said.
Christofias also said that Cyprus would not recognise Kosovo as an independent country, out of respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia.
Division pangs
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded the island in response to a coup, by supporters of union with Greece.
The island joined the European Union in 2004, but the bloc's benefits are only enjoyed by the internationally recognized Greek-Cypriot south.
A breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the north is recognised only by Turkey.
Peace talks between the two sides have been stalled since 2004, when Greek Cypriots voted in a referendum to reject a UN backed reunification plan.
Turkish Cypriots had accepted the plan in a separate vote.Christofias has previously said he is ready to accept the possibility of a federation with the Turkish north, on condition that Turkish troops leave the island.
Friday, February 29, 2008
UN special envoy meets Turkish Cypriot leader to restart Cyprus talks
The U.N. secretary general's special representative in Cyprus, Michael Moller, met with Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat on Friday in a bid to restart reunification talks.
A press release from Talat's office said the meeting took placeat Moller's request. No statements were made after their meeting.
Both Greek and Turkish Cypriots are expecting the talks to restart between Talat and Demetris Christofias, the Greek Cypriot leader who recently replaced Tassos Papadopoulos as the island state's new president.
Talat has sent a letter to U.N. chief Ban Ki Moon to clarify his position on the Cyprus issue, said his spokesman, who declined to reveal its details.
Moller, who plans to meet Christofias next Monday, is expected to arrange a meeting as soon as possible between the two leaders. The U.N. special envoy implied earlier this month that the lack of political will among the leaders of Cyprus' two communities was part of the cause for the decades-old division.
"Rather than launching a new initiative on its own, the U.N. will support good faith efforts on the part of both sides to restart talks and work for a solution," Moller said.
The two sides are at odds on the formation of a new federal state.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey sent troops to occupy the northern part of the island following a coup by a group of Greek officers pushing for union with Greece. Turkey has since maintained 40,000 troops in the Turkish Cypriot north.
In 1983, the Turkish Cypriot authorities set up "the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus," which was recognized only by Turkey. For decades, the U.N. has been trying but failed to persuade the two communities to find a viable solution to the Cyprus issue.
In a referendum held in April 2004, Greek Cypriots under the leadership of Papadopoulos rejected a comprehensive settlement plan being pushed by then U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, while Turkish Cypriots approved it.
Monday, February 25, 2008
A glance at Dimitris Christofias, winner of Cyprus presidential election
Dimitris Christofias won Cyprus' crucial presidential runoff on Sunday. Here is a brief look at his career.
Christofias, 61, holds a Ph.D. in history from the Soviet Union's Academy of Social Science in Moscow, and is fluent in Russian. The son of a builder and one of five children, he joined the communist-rooted AKEL party at the age of 14 and rose through its ranks to claim its leadership 28 years later, in 1988.
He was elected president of the Cypriot House of Representatives in 2001 and won re-election in 2006.
Christofias initially backed President Tassos Papadopoulos 2004 decision to reject a U.N.
reunification plan, but later split with the president over his handling of efforts to end the island's division. Christofias was critical of the outgoing president for what he described as regressive tactics edging the island toward permanent partition.
Christofias has been trying hard to fend off criticism of being a Euro-skeptic after calling for a one-year delay to the island's adoption of the euro. He also opposes calls for Cyprus to join NATO's Partnership for Peace (PfP) program.
His party has tried to allay concerns that if elected, his presidency would usher in communist-inspired policies.
Christofias claims to be more adept than his two rivals at reaching out to Turkish Cypriots thanks to his long-standing ties with the Turkish Cypriot left.
Those ties became strained after Christofias' rejection of the U.N. plan.
Christofias is married and has two daughters and a son. He underwent a lifesaving kidney transplant in 2002, in which the donor was his sister.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Communist hopes to unite Cyprus
President-elect might first have to prove his mettle with Western leaders.
Communist leader Dimitris Christofias won Cyprus' presidential runoff Sunday, pledging to restart moribund talks to reunify the island, and immediately agreeing to meet the leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots.
Jubilant supporters flooded the streets of Nicosia, waving Cypriot and Che Guevara flags, honking car horns and lighting flares.
"We have a common vision ... to reunite our people, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots," Christofias said in his victory speech.
"I extend a hand of friendship to the Turkish Cypriot people and their leadership," he said, thanking Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat for telephoning to congratulate him.
An official at Talat's office said the two men indicated they wanted to meet soon but did not immediately set a date.
Christofias' victory makes strategically important Cyprus a rarity among its European Union partners -- a country led by a president with firmly Communist roots. His AKEL party grew out of Cyprus' outlawed Communist Party in the 1940s.
The 61-year-old Soviet-educated history professor won with 53.37 percent of the vote to 46.63 percent for former Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides.
Both had campaigned on promises to reunify the island, split since 1974, when Turkey invaded after a coup aimed at uniting Cyprus with Greece.
Reunification would remove one of the obstacles to Turkey's efforts to join the European Union.
John Sitilides, chairman of the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center's Southeast Europe Project, said Christofias might need to launch a "diplomatic campaign in Washington and European capitals, probably just initially, to reassure leadership circles ... that we're not talking about Fidel Castro or Kim Il-sung here, but a Euro-Communist like one finds in almost every Western European country, but one that happens to have ascended to the ultimate position of leadership."
Left-wing Christofias elected Cyprus' president
Kasoulides has called Christofias and congratulated him for his victory.
Christofias will be formally declared the new president of Cyprus late Sunday night. But his victory has already sent supporters to the streets of capital Nicosia, waving Cyprus' national flags and portraits of Che Guevara, the Latin American legend.
Christofias and Kasoulides, both more conciliatory towards Turkish Cypriot, had knocked out the incumbent President Tassos Papadopoulos, a hard-liner in reunification talks, in the neck-and-neck first round poll on Feb. 17.
Christofias successfully rallied two other parties supporting the outgoing President Papadopoulos behind him in the second round.
Speaking to jubilant supporters in front of his campaign headquarters after the election, Christofias pledged that he will work with all Cypriots to reunite the divided island.
"Tomorrow a new day will dawn, we have many difficulties ahead," he said.
"I have often said that today our ideology is one: Cyprus and its salvation, this is the vision we are going to work for," he added.
Christofias thanked his rival Kasoulides, the outgoing President Papadopoulos and particular the younger generation during his speech.
Cyprus has remained divided since 1974 when Turkey militarily intervened and occupied the north of the island following a coup by a group of Greek officers who pushed for a union with Greece.
In 1983, the Turkish Cypriot authorities declared a breakaway territory and set up the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is recognized only by Turkey.
In a referendum held in April 2004, Greek Cypriot under the leadership of Papadopoulos rejected the Annan Plan for fear that it would be in Turkey's favor, while Turkish Cypriot approved it.
After the presidential election, fresh efforts to revive the deadlocked reunification process are expected by both Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities.
Cyprus goes to the polls
Cypriots are voting in a run-off presidential election, choosing between a communist leader and a conservative former foreign minister who promise to restart stalled talks to reunify Europe's last divided capital.
Communist-rooted Dimitris Christofias, 61, and conservative Ioannis Kasoulides, 59, have both staked their campaigns on pledges to stave off permanent partition by offering an olive branch to breakaway Turkish Cypriots.
If Mr Christofias wins, Cyprus would become the EU's only country with a communist-inspired president.
Reunification of the Greek Cypriot south and the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north would remove one of the obstacles to Turkey's efforts to join the European Union.
It would also ease strong objections to Kosovo's new independence among Greek Cypriots who fear it would act as a precedent for north Cyprus.
"This is not just about Cyprus. This is about broader security and stability and political consolidation in the critical part of the Eurasian theatre," said John Sitilides, chairman of the Woodrow Wilson Centre's South-east Europe Project in Washington.
It was the promise of an end to the stalemate over the country's division that produced the shock exit of hard-line incumbent Tassos Papadopoulos in a first-round vote last week.
Mr Christofias and Mr Kasoulides are running neck-and-neck, although Mr Christofias is considered the favourite as he gained the backing of Mr Papadopoulos' party.
"We will roll up our sleeves and work hard so that our island is reunified. Enough is enough, entrenching division is disastrous for our people and our island," Mr Christofias told reporters after voting.
"I also extend a message friendship to ordinary Turkish Cypriots."
Both Mr Kasoulides and Mr Christofias accused Mr Papadopoulos of regressive tactics edging Cyprus toward a permanent split with Turkish Cypriots, whose breakaway state is recognised only by Turkey. Mr Papadopoulos was instrumental in urging Greek Cypriots to reject a 2004 UN reunification plan that Turkish Cypriots approved. A week later, the island joined the EU as a divided country.
Polls open in Cyprus presidential race
Greek Cypriots voted to elect a new president on Sunday in a race key to reunification prospects for war-partitioned Cyprus and Turkey's hopes of joining the EU.
Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. (5:00 a.m. British time) and voting was scheduled to end at 5 p.m. (1500 GMT), with final results expected by 1730 GMT. Just over half a million people in the Greek Cypriot south of Cyprus were eligible to vote.
Sunday's election pits Communist leader Demetris Christofias against right-wing backed Ioannis Kassoulides, after the surprise elimination of incumbent hardliner Tassos Papadopoulos in the first round on Feb 17.
Both candidates say they will attempt to broker a deal with Turkish Cypriots to end the conflict keeping Cyprus divided and Turkey out of the European Union.
Cyprus has been split along ethnic lines following violence after independence from Britain in 1960 and a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek inspired coup.
A breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in north Cyprus is recognised only by Ankara, while the Greek Cypriot south nominally represents the whole island in the EU.
Communist in pole position as Cyprus votes for president
Christofias, 61, is running against conservative former foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulides, who narrowly won the first round of the election last Sunday when voters dumped incumbent Tassos Papadopoulos.
The outcome of the election is expected to give a major boost to efforts to end the 34-year division of the island regardless of which candidate proved victorious.
"We have a vision, we have a history of struggle and contact with the people in our efforts to reunify our country without foreign troops," Christofias said after he and his wife, Elsie, cast their votes.
"At this time I want to send a message of friendship to ordinary Turkish Cypriots, a message of a common fight to reunite our homeland so we are in charge of our own affairs without foreign intervention," he added.
Kasoulides urged Cypriots to vote saying "they will decide whether we go forward in the heart of Europe using all the rights that a member state has to progress but also in efforts to free us from occupation and invasion."
Turnout after about three hours of voting was nearly 17 percent.
"Today, we have better prospects and hopes of securing a solution that we deserve. I hope the new president takes advantage of this," said Papadopoulos after voting.
Christofias, who was barely 1,000 votes behind Kasoulides in the first round, has since won the endorsement of three smaller parties that had backed Papadopoulos.
Police reported that offices belonging to the Socialist EDEK party -- which has endorsed Christofias -- had been vandalised, but overall polling was running smoothly for the around half-a-million Greek Cypriots eligible to vote.
MEP Kasoulides, 59, has the support of the island's influential Orthodox Church but is otherwise reliant on the backing of the island's main right-wing DISY party.
If Christofias wins he would become the European Union's only communist head of state and make the island the only European country with a communist president apart from ex-Soviet Moldova, just over 16 years after the Soviet Union's collapse.
Cyprus is host to two large British military bases that house a string of super-sensitive listening posts that provide Western powers with intelligence on the Middle East and the former Soviet Union.
Amidst the ideological rivalry of the Cold War the prospect of a communist president on the island could spark serious concern in Western capitals.
Even though in domestic terms he was no left-winger, Archbishop Makarios III, who led the island from independence from Britain in 1960 to his death in 1977, was dubbed the "Castro of the Mediterranean" for the non-aligned stance he took towards the then superpowers.
Polls opened at 0500 GMT and are due to close at 1500 GMT with the outcome expected to be clear by 1730 GMT even though the definitive result was not due before around 2000 GMT.
For the first time, some 400 Turkish Cypriots living in the government-run south of the island were eligible to vote. Turkish Cypriots in the breakaway state in the north, declared in 1983, were not eligible to vote.
Christofias and Kasoulides alike have vowed to accelerate negotiations with the Turkish Cypriots which went nowhere under the leadership of Papadopoulos.
The outgoing president led Greek Cypriots in voting down a UN reunification plan that was overwhelmingly endorsed by Turkish Cypriots in simultaneous referendums in 2004, with the result that a divided island joined the European Union the following month.
A UN peacekeeping force has been deployed on the island ever since communal disturbances first broke in 1963. The island has been divided along largely ethnic lines since Turkish troops invaded in 1974 in response to a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at union with Greece.
Cyprus has no post of prime minister and executive power rests essentially with the president who is elected for a five-year term.
But the intense horse-trading that led to Christofias's endorsement by the smaller parties during the week means that, if victorious, he will have to share power with them.
Greek Cypriot media reported that the communist leader had promised the centre-right DIKO party of Papadopoulos three ministries including the foreign affairs portfolio and the socialist EDEK party two.
The deal is likely to limit his freedom of manoeuvre on the Cyprus problem as the two centre parties historically take a far less flexible approach than either the communist AKEL party or the right-wing DISY.
Realism reuniting divided Cyprus
To call Tassos Papadopoulos a dinosaur is a slur on the entire Cretaceous era, but at least the age of the dinosaurs has ended in Cyprus.
Running for re-election as president last Sunday, Papadopoulos, the man who almost single-handedly scuttled a peace settlement in Cyprus four years ago, came third and was eliminated from the race. Both the remaining candidates want to reopen negotiations for a peace deal.
The Greek-Cypriot newspaper Simerini was slightly more generous about the 74-year-old Papadopoulos, calling him "the last of the Mohicans," but the sense that his defeat marks a turning point in the affairs of Cyprus is widespread. For more than half a century Cyprus has been a divided and heavily militarized island kept quiet by a UN peacekeeping force, but there is hope on the horizon.
Papadopoulos, who founded his presidency on resistance to a UN-backed plan to end the division of Cyprus, trailed only a few thousand votes behind his two adversaries, former foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulides and Communist Party leader Demetris Christofias, each of whom took almost exactly one-third of the vote. But that means that two-thirds of Greek-Cypriots are now ready to reconsider the final settlement that they rejected in the 2004 referendum.
Nobody in Greek-Cypriot politics will admit that, of course. Both Kasoulides and Christofias insist that the UN-brokered 2004 deal is dead, and the UN says that the Greek- and Turkish-Cypriots should sort it out for themselves this time round. But everybody knows that the 2004 UN deal is the template for a final settlement, just as everybody knows that the documents from the Taba summit in January 2001 contain the outline of the final Israeli-Palestinian settlement (if and when everybody is ready for it).
What we have here, only 60 years late, is the dawning of strategic realism in Cyprus. According to old census figures, almost four-fifths of the Cypriot population spoke Greek and only one-fifth Turkish, so if the island had been located somewhere off the west coast of Greece, it could just have joined Greece when it got its independence from Britain in 1960.
If the Turks didn't like it, they could leave.
But Cyprus is not an island off the west coast of Greece. It is a large island off the south coast of Turkey, and the Turkish mainland is 10 times closer to Cyprus than the Greek mainland.
Moreover, Turkey is a militarily competent country with about seven times Greece's population.
The Greeks may love the Greek-Cypriots, but they were never going to wreck their country by going to war with Turkey for them.
It's not about historical justice, if such a thing exists; it's about strategic realities. The Greek-Cypriot majority could not drag its Turkish compatriots into union with Greece, it could not expel them, and there was even a limit to how badly it could mistreat them.
Turkey would not stand for it, and Greece would not intervene militarily.
That was why Cyprus's independence constitution was a document of Byzantine complexity, dividing every aspect of the government between the Greek and Turkish communities and creating interlocking vetoes over every decision. By 1963 frustrated Greek-Cypriots were trying to change it, mutual suspicions flared, and within a year almost all Turkish-Cypriots were living under siege in barricaded quarters of villages and towns all across the island.
That was when the UN peacekeeping force arrived, and froze the situation for a decade.
Then in 1974 the military junta in Greece backed a military coup against the Greek-Cypriot government and installed a new regime that promised to unite the entire island with Greece. It was a miscalculation on a par with the Argentine invasion of the Falklands, but it wrecked many more lives.
Turkey invaded the north of the island to create a safe haven for Turkish-Cypriots, and the Greek armed forces, predictably, did nothing.
Almost half the Turkish-Cypriot population, some 90,000 people, lived outside that Turkish-controlled enclave, but they abandoned their homes to seek safety there. About 200,000 Greek-Cypriots, 40 per cent of that population, fled south to escape the Turks.
And for the next 30 years, nothing much happened.
By 2003, however, with Cyprus about to join the European Union and Turkey negotiating its entry terms, a new effort was launched to clear up the mess. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan came up with the terms after consulting both sides, and the deal was put to a referendum in 2004.
Two-thirds of Turkish-Cypriots voted yes; over three-quarters of Greek-Cypriots, at the urging of President Papadopoulos, voted no.
It was one last outing for Greek-Cypriot strategic fantasy.
Admittedly, the UN-brokered deal was not perfect from their point of view. It mandated a bi-zonal, bi-communal republic in which the Turkish-Cypriots largely run their own affairs, not the unitary state of today in which Greek-Cypriots would automatically dominate. It allowed Greek-Cypriot refugees to return to some parts of the north, but not to most. But it sent the Turkish troops home, and it conformed to strategic realities.
In 2004, Papadopoulos persuaded Greek-Cypriots to reject this deal.
In 2008, they have rejected him. Whether Kasoulides or Christofias wins the run-off election next Sunday (probably the former), the new president will soon open talks with the Turkish-Cypriot government.
With enough realism, there could be a deal within a year.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Christofias wins endorsement before Cyprus runoff
"The decision serves the best interests of the party," said Democratic Party president Marios Karoyan.
The Democratic Party was the largest of a five member coalition to support hardliner incumbent Tassos Papadopoulos's failed bid for re-election.
Christofias, 62, and right-wing backed Kassoulides, 59, have pledged to pursue peace talks with Turkish Cypriots on the ethnically divided island, split in a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek-inspired coup.
The conflict is harming Turkey's hopes of joining the European Union, where Cyprus is now represented by its Greek Cypriots.
Kassoulides got 33.5 percent of the first round vote and Christofias 33.2 percent. Papadopoulos followed with 31.7 percent. The Democratic Party mustered 17.9 percent in the island's 2006 parliamentary elections.
New landscape in Cyprus after election shock
The Greek-Cypriot community wants its leadership to become active with the aim of achieving a compromise, but viable, solution for the Cyprus problem. That is the message from the presidential elections that took place in Cyprus Sunday.
Equally, it is clear that the future beats the past. Not only in terms of age, since the 59-year-old Ioannis Cassoulidis and 62-year-old Dimitris Christofias beat 74-year-old Tassos Papadopoulos, but also in terms of handling the Cyprus problem.
The international community must not misinterpret the result. The solution that will be sought through a new proposal cannot be the Annan Plan, which was rejected four years ago by the overwhelming majority of 76 percent.
The United Nations, the U.S. and the European Union would do well to take this into proper account as they are set to begin exploratory talks in the next few weeks in order to prepare the next proposal for solving the Cyprus issue.
The fall of Papadopoulos
The two candidates that will battle it out in the second round on Sunday, who had declared themselves in favor of the Annan Plan on a personal level, cannot ignore either the message that 76 percent of Greek-Cypriots sent out in 2004.
Last Sunday, the unlikely winner Ioannis Cassoulidis received votes from 25 percent of those that voted against the Annan Plan and the Communist Party leader Dimitris Christofias garnered support from 35 percent of those that rejected Annan's proposal.
It is a percentage that the next president will have to take into account when he is asked to handle in the near future the next attempt to seek a solution.
If the election of February 17 was a referendum on Papadopoulos's handling of the situation then he has been dealt a clear defeat. Not only did he lose but he came third with 72 percent of the electorate voting against him because it does not consider the current situation to be ideal.
Although Cyprus has become a member of the European Union and has entered the eurozone, the Greek-Cypriot community does not feel secure and is not willing to settle for the status quo.
The new electoral landscape:
The truth is that from the moment Christofias decided to stand as a candidate, the electoral landscape changed completely, at Papadopoulos's expense.
The outgoing president lost the majority of the voters who had backed him in 2003 when he stood as the candidate of his party, the Communist Party (AKEL) and the socialists EDEK. Sunday's elections confirmed for yet another time that the Democratic Rally and AKEL are still the main draws in the Cypriot political system.
As for this Sunday, the negotiations have already begun and there are many scenarios as to what could happen. It is doubtful whether after the results of the first round and Papadopoulos's defeat AKEL, DIKO and EDEK can remain under one roof.
There is likely to be a big number of voters switching sides and the final result will remain in doubt.
A mixed or free-market economy for Cyprus?
There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the only issue in which either Ioannis Kasoulides and Demetris Christofias differ is the economy.
On the political front they both agree on what sort of settlement we want and how to achieve it, one with a slightly different approach to the other, but the end-result would be the same. As regards health, education and social welfare, the two candidates – and the major parties that support them – are so close, it is hard to tell them apart.
Then there is ideology – AKEL is a reformed communist party, but is leaning towards the centre left to widen its spectrum of supporters, while DISY is a watered-down version of the right-wing party it aspired to be when first established in the late ’70s trying to become a neo-socialist democratic party, in turn, to attract as much of the centre-right as possible.
Ironically, there could be no better coalition than if both AKEL and DISY came together. The extreme differences in ideology are in the minds of the individuals and not in their platforms.
Hence, the choice is now between a mixed and a free market economy.
Kasoulides wants to follow the free-market principle, but realises that the size of Cyprus does not allow full liberalisation of all public sectors. That is why corporatisation is the best solution for many sectors, in order to make the public services as competitive and efficient as the private sector.
According to AKEL, Cyprus has had a mixed economy ever since Independence in 1960 and this is a model it wants to maintain. But this would mean an economy that contains both private and state-owned enterprises at a time when the European Union and the WTO are calling for less state involvement and more liberalisation.
The state owning a few enterprises is not a bad thing, particularly if the enterprise in question is offering an essential public service, one that the private sector cannot do.
But rejecting outright the corporatisation of state-held enterprises, such as the Postal Service, the power, telecom and water utilities, only sends us back to the dark ages of a planned economy that would include some elements of capitalism and socialism.
Although the philosophy of a mixed economy emerged in post-war Britain, primarily to ensure the state supported certain industries, Gordon Brown’s plans to nationalise Northern Rock can hardly be regarded as a return to socialism and greater influence of the state.
If AKEL comes to power, it has to deal with the fact that with the Cyprus economy relying almost entirely on the financial services and tourism sectors, the island could only lead towards a full free market, rather than a mixed or socialist economy.
Cyprus caught in the big freeze
CYPRUS was yesterday in the grip of a cold spell, with low temperatures, freezing cold, sleet and even snow on the plain over the past couple of days. Sleet fell on Nicosia and Limassol on Monday night, turning to snow on the outskirts of the capital, while in all the districts there was heavy rainfall.
In the mountains, the snow reached 40 centimetres at the peak of Mount Olympus and 30 centimetres on Troodos Square. The Prodromos-Troodos road was closed to all traffic yesterday because of the snow and frost, while police closed other mountain roads except to those with four-wheel drive or snow chains.
Schools were closed in a number of villages.According to the Meteorological Service, the low pressure over the region is moving towards the east.
Today and tomorrow, the weather will be mainly fine and the temperature will gradually rise. On Friday, a broken cloud cover is forecast. The temperature will rise back to the seasonal norm.
UN denies pullout plan from Cyprus
The United Nations on Tuesday denied it was planning to withdraw peacekeeping force from divided Cyprus had its hardline President Tassos Papadopoulos been re-elected.
"Reports that the United Nations intended to pull out of Cyprus in the event of a victory by President Papadopoulos are totally baseless and irresponsible," said Jose Luis Diaz, the spokesman for the U.N. Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP).
Local newspaper Cyprus Mail reported on Tuesday that UN was making plans to extricate itself from the "Cyprus quagmire" had Papadopoulos been re-elected in the presidential elections.
Instead, Papadopoulos' ouster in the first round last Sunday has given the international community new hope for reunification negotiations, the paper said. In response to the report, Diaz noted that the UNFICYP has been in Cyprus for over four decades, helping to keep the peace and assisting the parties in their search for a comprehensive solution.
"It will continue to do so as long as Cypriot and the international community deem it necessary," the spokesman stressed in a written statement.
UNFICYP was set up in 1964 to prevent further fighting between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities on the eastern Mediterranean island.
After the hostilities of 1974, the mission's responsibilities were expanded. UNFICYP remains on the island to supervise ceasefire lines, maintain a buffer zone and undertake humanitarian activities.
However, the UN's growing impatience with the lack of progress on the Cyprus issue was evident in a speech given by UNFICYP chief of Mission Michael Moller earlier this month.
Moller made it clear the UN had no plans to launch a Cyprus initiative on its own but would rather support the efforts of both sides to re-start talks, if they were serious about it.
On Sunday, nearly two thirds of Greek Cypriot gave their votes to two pro-solution candidates, knocking out the incumbent President Papadopoulos who led them into rejecting a comprehensive UN plan for Cyprus.
The new president will be elected out of the two in the Feb. 24run-off.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Cyprus presidential runoff brings promise of new hope for speedy reunification deal
In the race's shock first round, Tassos Papadopoulos was forced out after coming third behind former Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides and communist AKEL party leader Demetris Christofias, who will face one another in the Feb. 24 runoff.
The result indicates that Cypriots may be willing to negotiate quickly on a compromise that could lead to reunification with the Turkish-occupied northern part of the island.
"This election marked a change in the political landscape," said Joseph Joseph, a political science professor at the University of Cyprus.
Kasoulides, 59, and Christofias, 61, had criticized the president for sticking to policies that frustrated European Union partners and edged Cyprus toward a permanent partition.
The election had been billed as a referendum on Papadopoulos' tough approach to reunification. Cyprus has been split since 1974 into a Turkish-occupied north and an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south.
Papadopoulos, 74, was key in urging Greek Cypriots to reject a U.N. reunification plan in a 2004 referendum. Turkish Cypriots approved it in a separate vote. Cyprus joined the European Union as Europe's last divided country.
"People have turned away from Papadopoulos' policies," said European University history professor Andrekos Varnava.
The president advocated cautious talks with the breakaway Turkish Cypriot community and had vowed never to accept a revival of the defunct U.N. plan that Greek Cypriots rejected over fears it was weighted in Turkey's favor.
"Both Kasoulides and Christofias hold similar views on the Cyprus issue. They represented change and Papadopoulos represented the opposite," said Varnava.
The first-round results were welcomed by Turkish Cypriots who saw it as evidence of a Greek Cypriot willingness to engage in renewed peace talks.
Ferdi Sabit Soyer, prime minister of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state recognized only by Turkey, said the election "sent an important message."
Commenting on Turkish Cypriot television, Soyer said the combined votes of Kasoulides and Christofias indicated a shift in Greek Cypriot public opinion toward a settlement.
Kasoulides and Christofias may share a similar approach to reunification but politically, they are ideological opposites. The former foreign minister hails from the right-wing DISY party, the longtime adversary of communist AKEL.
That could prove the deciding factor on which way supporters of the center-right Papadopoulos swing, Varnava said.
Kasoulides edged Christofias by a mere 980 votes, winning 33.51 percent to Christofias' 33.29 percent. About 516,000 voters, including 390 Turkish Cypriots living in the south, were registered to vote.
Both candidates are going all out to woo the 31.79 percent who backed Papadopoulos. The potential kingmaker is the center-right DIKO, the biggest party in the Papadopoulos coalition.
Varnava said DIKO could split, with one faction opting to support Christofias, as he is seen as more resistant to pressure to accept an unfavorable reunification deal. Still, many DIKO members regard Christofias with suspicion because of his communist roots.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Cyprus president eliminated from runoff
President Tassos Papadopoulos was eliminated Sunday in a cliff-hanger first round of Cyprus' presidential election - a surprise result that could signal a renewed drive to end the island's decades-old division.
Communist party leader Demetris Christofias, 61, and 59-year-old former Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides of the conservative DISY party will now vie for the five-year presidency in a Feb. 24 runoff.
The election is seen as pivotal to the decades-old search for a deal to reunify the ethnically divided island, a division that has proven to be a major stumbling block to Turkey's efforts to join the European Union.
Both are seen as more moderate and have said they want speedy negotiations with the Turkish Cypriots who have been split from the Greek Cypriot south since 1974, when a failed bid to unite the island with Greece triggered a Turkish invasion.
The island's division has proven a major stumbling block to Turkey's efforts to join the European Union.
Despite coming from opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, Kasoulides and Christofias both stressed the need for a "diplomatic offensive" to stave off the threat of permanent partition. Talks to reunite the island have been deadlocked for years.
The election had been billed as a verdict on center-right Papadopoulos, 74, and his handling of the island's division. The president was instrumental in Greek Cypriots' rejection of a U.N. reunification plan in 2004, which the Turkish Cypriots approved in separate referendums.
Kasoulides and Christofias had argued that Papadopoulos' regressive policies had driven the island closer toward permanent partition.
Final results showed Kasoulides with a very slight lead, with 33.51 percent compared to 33.29 percent for Christofias. Papadopoulos was close behind with 31.79 percent.
Supporters of both Christofias and Kasoulides spilled out onto the streets, cheering, honking car horns and waving Cypriot and a few Greek flags.
"At this crucial hour, the time has come to join our forces, to remember all that unites us and to put our country on a road of self-confidence and optimism," Kasoulides told jubilant supporters in his Nicosia headquarters.
Christofias said time was of the essence, but also warned against a "bad solution," potentially scuttling a deal. But he said he would work with Turkish Cypriots for a mutually acceptable deal.
"Next Sunday, we leave everything that divides us, we leave behind stalemate, we leave behind talk of the past and we forge a peaceful, happy future for all Cypriots without exception," he said.
Papadopoulos saw his slim lead in opinion polls erode in recent weeks, but he had been widely expected to advance to the second round.
"The people have judged and decided. Their choice is completely respected," he said as he conceded the election in a speech to the Cypriot people.
Now, it will be his supporters who will decide the next president in Sunday's runoff.
Leaders of smaller parties that backed Papadopoulos' re-election bid said they would decide in coming days which of the two candidates they would lend their support to.
Kasoulides, a European Parliament deputy, defied opinion polls that suggested he trailed his rivals despite closing the gap in the weeks before the election. He quickly sought to consolidate his support by appealing to Papadopoulos backers after the vote.
Cyprus is internationally represented by the Greek Cypriot government in the south, while the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north is recognized only by Ankara.
Despite Turkish Cypriot approval of the 2004 U.N. plan, its rejection by Greek Cypriots in separate referendums meant the island joined the European Union that year still divided.
Some 516,000 voters, including 390 Turkish Cypriots living in the south, were registered to vote, and turnout was more than 89 percent, election authorities said. Voting is compulsory in Cyprus.
Cyprus's Papadopoulos Ousted in Presidential Poll
Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos was knocked out of the race for a second five-year term as president, rekindling hopes for a settlement on the divided eastern Mediterranean island.
Ioannis Kasoulides, a former foreign minister, and Demetris Christofias, the leader of the communist party, will proceed to a run-off vote for the post on Feb. 24, according to state broadcaster CyBc.
Kasoulides led today's voting with 33.5 percent, while Christofias got 33.3 percent. Papadopoulos came in third with 31.8 percent.
Opinion polls had forecast Papadopoulos, who led Greek Cypriot opposition to a 2004 plan to reunite the island, would win his way through to the second round. Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded the northern third of Cyprus to oppose a coup by supporters of a union with Greece.
``We're called on to decide on Cyprus's future,'' Christofias, 61, said in statements broadcast on CyBC.
``We all sense that time is running out as long as things remain stagnant.''
Papadopoulos, 74, was instrumental in blocking a United Nations-backed plan to end the division, arguing the plan gave Turkish Cypriots more land and political power than their 20 percent weighting in the population. Turkish Cypriots voted for the plan.
Supporting the Plan
Today, after news of his defeat, he said he was unrepentant in supporting the plan saying the rejection meant the ``Republic of Cyprus'' was rescued.
Kasoulides, 59, a member of the center-right Disy party, and Christofias, the leader of the party that has traditionally had the best ties with the Turkish Cypriot community, are seen by analysts as being more flexible on reviving talks to end the division.
``Both Kasoulides and Christofias could deliver a solution,'' said James Ker-Lindsay, senior research fellow in European and international studies at Kingston University in London.
Kassoulides, who's now a member of the European Parliament, had supported the Annan Plan, named after the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and has promised to begin talks on a solution by meeting with Turkish Cypriot leaders ``the day after'' he's elected.
Today, he said that he would launch a ``diplomatic attack'' to boost the country's international standing and use his EU connections for a solution.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Election result to be known 8.30pm Sunday
Greek Cyprus Ballot Remains Too Close to Call
Three candidates remain practically tied just days before the presidential ballot in Greek Cyprus according to a poll by Cymar. 31 per cent of respondents would support incumbent Tassos Papadopoulos in this month’s election, 30.5 would vote for Dimitris Christofias, and 27.5 per cent would back Ioannis Kasoulides.
The presidential election in Greek Cyprus is scheduled for Feb. 17. If no candidate garners more than 50 per cent of all cast ballots, a run-off would take place a week later.
Papadopoulos won the 2003 election with 51.5 per cent of the vote. He has been endorsed by the Democratic Party (DIKO), the Movement of Social Democrats (EDEK) and the European Party (EvroKo).
Christofias is the president of the House of Representatives and secretary general of the left-wing Progressive Party of the Working People (AKEL).
Kasoulides, a former foreign minister, is backed by the opposition Democratic Rally (DISY).
In 2006, Greek Cypriot voters renewed the House of Representatives. Final results gave AKEL and DIKO 29 seats in the legislative branch, enough to guarantee that Christofias would preside the chamber.
Relations between the Greek majority and the Turkish minority in Cyprus have been frayed since 1974, when a Greek-sponsored attempt to seize the government was met by military intervention from Turkey.
In the skirmish, the Turks gained control of almost two-fifths of the island, which in 1983 declared itself the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The Turkish government has never acknowledged the Greek Cypriot administration. More than 30,000 Turkish soldiers occupy the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
On Feb. 7, Kasoulides said that he would press for the reunification of the island by working with United Nations (UN) secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, the Security Council’s five permanent members and the European Commission, adding:
"Either personally or through my envoys, I will call on them and I will be very persistent. My credentials will be those of a man who wants a solution. Our credibility in Europe, with regard to a political settlement, is at its lowest and we have to rectify that."
Polling Data
If the elections were next Sunday, who would you vote for?
Jan. 2008 Nov. 2007 Sept. 2007
Tassos Papadopoulos 31% 31% 30%
Dimitris Christofias 30.5% 30% 26%
Ioannis Kasoulides 27.5% 29% 29%
Source: Cymar Methodology: Interviews with 1,600 Greek Cyprus adults, conducted from Jan. 19 to Jan. 29, 2008. Margin of error is 2.5 per cent.
Crucial Cyprus election seen going down to wire
Half a million Greek Cypriots vote for a new president next week in a cliffhanger race which could influence Turkey's EU accession hopes and affect NATO-EU cooperation in trouble spots worldwide.
Polls published on Sunday give incumbent Tassos Papadopoulos, communist challenger Demetris Christofias and right-winger Ioannis Kassoulides virtually equal chances in the February 17 vote, possibly leading to a run-off on February 24.
"Only the Pythia knows," wrote the daily Politis, referring to the priestess at the Delphi Oracle, credited by ancient Greeks with having powers to predict the future.
Regardless of who wins, diplomats say mediators plan one last crack this year at mending fences between Greek and Turkish Cypriots on opposing sides of a U.N. ceasefire line which has split the Mediterranean island for almost 35 years.
The festering conflict has been a thorn in relations between NATO allies Turkey and Greece, and the stakes from the Cyprus spillover are high in both the European Union and NATO.
Since Cyprus joined the EU in 2004, represented by Greek Cypriots, it has frustrated Turkey's EU aspirations. Sparring between Turkey and Cyprus has also hampered joint EU-NATO cooperation in Kosovo and Afghanistan.
"The choice is if we want to use the next few years to try to finally solve this problem, or if we will see a continuing drift towards partition," a Western diplomat told Reuters.
Diplomats see Kassoulides and Christofias as more moderate than Papadopoulos, whose sometimes authoritarian manner has earned him a "hardliner" label, a tag he vehemently rejects
Papadopoulos led the Greek Cypriot rejection of a U.N. reunification blueprint in 2004, with critics charging that he has made no real attempt to break the deadlock since then.
The United Nations is expected to send aides in March to assess reunification prospects. Analysts and diplomats say it may be a half-hearted effort if Papadopoulos wins a second term.
"This is a very decisive election. The record of the Papadopoulos presidency is one of non-progress ... and people expect more of the same if he is re-elected," said analyst Hubert Faustmann.
Divided since a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek-inspired coup, an army of mediators have failed to resolve the conflict.
"This problem won't go away on its own, and it will make things a lot more difficult in terms of regional cooperation as time goes by," another diplomat said.
There is a growing consensus that mediators can ill afford further delays in addressing Cyprus, lest reconciliation efforts begin to overlap with Turkey's EU accession talks, already troubled by opposition from France and Germany.
"This would risk ... trade-offs between the two, or a cumulative burden of compromises that might become too great for the Turks to accept, potentially wrecking both negotiations with one stroke," said former British envoy David Hannay.
The most important election you're not talking about
Cyprus has been split into two entities ever since 1974, when Turkey invaded the island in response to a military coup that was backed by Athens. The northern part is currently recognized as a state by only Turkey. Everyone else recognizes the southern Greek-speaking part as the official government.
So, the Cypriot elections mean a lot for the future Europe as a whole, and not just for the island itself.
Acting in the best interest of Cyprus
byKarin Resetarits*
When 500,000 people on a Mediterranean island are going to vote for a new president, the political attention paid to the matter is usually moderate. Cyprus, however, is different. Cyprus is a very special case in the EU.
None of the other member states would accept that one part of the population is treated as European citizens without European rights, but the current government of Cyprus does. Having rejected the UN plan in 2004, the government of Tassos Papadopoulos has not managed to find a solution for the Cyprus problem.
As a liberal member of the high-level contact group of the European Parliament for relations with Turkish Cypriots, I have visited the island a dozen times over the last three years. I know the complicated conflict very well: the deadlock that paralyses all parties involved, making it impossible for them to move forward.
There are always two sides of a coin. Wise leadership needs to keep this in mind and pay attention to what moves the two sides. In Cyprus I only hear one side complaining about the other, while at the same time the praising their own willingness and generosity. I experienced this behavior in the north as well as in the south.
Both sides deeply mistrust each other. This is the current unity of Cyprus.
The Cyprus conflict has turned into an acrimonious divorce case. And, like in divorce, there is an economically powerful part famishing the weaker one hoping that one day it will have to return home. But, like women or children who were once mistreated, often the weaker part rather prefers to stay in poverty rather than suffer oppression.
If I ask people in the north "What do you want?" the answer is "a better life and equal rights."
If I ask people in the south, the answer is "I want my property back and the Turkish soldiers out of my country."
Thus: Give Turkish Cypriots political and economic equality, give back Greek Cypriots their property, which they had to leave 1974 when the Turkish army took over one-third of the island, and send away all the soldiers -- UN, Turkish and Greek -- to a place where they are needed now.
The European Union should be the only guarantee power for peace and freedom in Cyprus.
There are several huge obstacles that have to be overcome. They are primarily psychological because both sides have been suffering now for decades. All parties involved have been grossly negligent in not moving since the rejected referendum in 2004.
A majority in Greek Cyprus voted against the referendum following the advice of their political and religious leaders. But what is the alternative? In a democracy the majority defines the policy -- but the will of all the people has to be considered to avoid riots.
Since there was no other plan for settlement, Turkish Cypriots started to do their own business. And since there is no white economy allowed, the grey and black markets started to blossom in the north. Property is sold and investors from all over the world are constructing holiday homes for people who want to have a small house close to the beach in the Mediterranean Sea.
The buyers are mostly people who just retired and who do not care if the property is legal or if it belongs to a Greek Cypriot -- because they think the Cyprus conflict will last longer than their life on earth. This is a huge problem that the current political leaders have to answer for.
What Cyprus truly needs is an integrative leadership and not a separatist one. Cyprus is suffering from weak politics. But let me be frank, dear citizens of the world, this is not a specific Cyprus problem; this is the case in many states. But Cyprus is different; Cyprus has a problem that the other 26 EU-member states don't have. This is why the final judgment of who is going to lead Greek Cyprus is more than essential.
The people of Cyprus must find a modern, European and peaceful solution. They have to be aware that being part of the EU means making compromises. Don't trust politicians who repeat the same words over and over again. They are trapped in a deadlock of shallow phrases.
Is there any candidate who will dare to present a fresh look at the Cyprus problem? If so, support him. Cyprus needs new ideas and someone who looks forward, not back into the past.
Good luck, people of Cyprus -- Greek and Turkish alike -- for the elections. You need a change. You all deserve for things to go back to normal.
*Karin Resetarits is an Austrian minister in the European Parliament and a member of its northern Cyprus high-level contact group.
Kosovo's independence weighs on Cyprus' elections
"Even though the first round of the presidential election is taking place in four days [Sunday, February 17] and the candidates are neck and neck, the attention of Greek Cypriots is fixed on Kosovo," writes the editorialist Lefteris Adinilis.
"Because election day is also the day that Kosovo is expected to declare independence. The principle theme of the elections is the reunification of the island: how can't we see in Kosovo's probable declaration of independence an imposing shadow?
Russia dropped a diplomatic bomb this week by making a parallel between the independence of Kosovo and the independence of Northern Cyprus. ... Russia is the only permanent member of the UN Security Council that is openly opposed to Kosovo's independence.
It will refuse to recognise it.
So, is the reunification of Cyprus, which seems so close, already dead?"
Cyprus challenges EU aid tender in north
Cyprus has taken the European Commission to court over an energy project in northern Cyprus that was planned as EU aid, its foreign minister said on Thursday.
Cyprus, represented in the European Union by Greek Cypriots, has sought interim measures against the project's execution until the case is heard at the Court of European Communities, Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou Marcoullis said.
"Unfortunately we had no other choice," she said.
Cyprus says the project in question, an invitation to tender for upgrading northern Cyprus's energy sector, attempted to involve the authorities in northern Cyprus, giving credence to the enclave which is only recognised by Ankara.
"It was deemed by the government and its legal advisers as unacceptable and incompatible with the spirit and the letter of the financial regulation," Marcoullis said.
The dispute runs to the heart of Cyprus's division and the complex nature of its membership in the European Union.
Greek Cypriots represent Cyprus in the bloc while Turkish Cypriots in the north are excluded. Greek Cypriots oppose any direct dealings with the Turkish Cypriots.
The European Commission invited tenders for the project in January, under the umbrella of a 259 million euro aid package included in a financial regulation. Other funds have been disbursed for unrelated projects to the region.
Turkish Cypriots said the move was an attempt to keep the community in isolation.
"This is the continuation of the Greek Cypriot policy of keeping our community isolated and of blocking the development of relations between us and the EU," said Turkish Cypriot spokesman Hasan Ercakica.
"The EU has to decide whether it wishes to continue allowing the Greek Cypriots to abuse the mechanisms of the EU in this way, or whether it really supports the lifting of the isolation on the Turkish Cypriots."
Turkish Cypriots in northern Cyprus are subject to restrictions ranging from bans on direct exports and air links with most countries.
The enclave is propped up by about 30,000 Turkish troops, who have been there since Turkey invaded the island in 1974 after a coup by Greek Cypriot nationalists engineered by the military then ruling Greece.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Turk Cypriots warily eye Greek poll
Turkish Cypriots are anxiously awaiting the outcome of an election this month in the Greek Cypriot south that could cement partition of the Mediterranean island they share and wreck Turkey's ties with Europe.
President Tassos Papadopoulos, who led Greek Cypriots into rejection of a U.N.-backed Cyprus reunification plan in 2004, is seeking re-election in the February 17 poll but a strong challenge from two rivals is likely to force a second round on February 24.
Victory for the hawkish Papadopoulos, who enjoys a small lead in opinion polls, would dash Turkish Cypriot hopes of a swift end to their international isolation and hobble Turkey's efforts to revive its stalled European Union entry bid.
"The Greek Cypriot elections are very important for us... We don't have much time, our peoples are becoming more estranged by the day," Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat told Reuters at his residence in Nicosia, Europe's last divided capital.
Talat, whose community supported the 2004 U.N. peace plan, declined to comment on the candidates contesting the Greek Cypriot presidency, but said a fresh peace drive was essential.
"The status quo is not sustainable or fair because ... we are isolated. This election is really the last chance (for change)."
Cyprus comprises an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south -- a wealthy EU member state which has adopted the euro and is home to 80 percent of the island's one million people -- and a poorer Turkish Cypriot north recognized only by Turkey.
It has been split on ethnic lines since Turkey invaded the north in 1974 after a Greek Cypriot coup backed by the military junta then ruling Greece. Turkey still keeps about 35,000 troops in the self-styled Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).
PERILS OF PARTITION
A Western diplomat based in Greek Nicosia said it was vital that all parties committed after the elections to a new U.N.-led peace process or face "a drift towards permanent partition".
"We cannot allow this problem to fester ... Cypriot voters perhaps don't realize how stark the options are," he said.
His warning echoed a recent study by the International Crisis Group (ICG), a respected Brussels-based think-tank.
"(An unmanaged slide to partition) would be profoundly damaging to Turkey's convergence with Europe, Greek Cypriot prosperity, stability in the east Mediterranean and EU unity," the ICG report said.
Leaving northern Cyprus in a legal and diplomatic limbo would undermine the fight against money laundering, human and drug trafficking and other international crime, it said.
The Cyprus dispute is already hampering closer cooperation between the EU and NATO in conflict zones from Kosovo to Afghanistan. Turkey is a NATO member but Cyprus is not.
This week, in a blow to EU unity, the Greek Cypriot government prevented the 27-nation bloc from forging a common position on Kosovo's independence.
Cyprus fears Kosovo -- whose independence is strongly opposed by Serbia of which the mainly ethnic Albanian province is still a part -- would create a precedent for recognition of the TRNC, despite EU assurances that Kosovo is a unique case.
Brushing aside suggestions Kosovo might be a model for the TRNC, Talat said Turkish Cypriots still favor reunification along the lines of past U.N. peace plans, involving a loose federal government and wide autonomy for the two communities.
"Realistically, we can solve this problem in less than one year. There is already a huge body of work on what needs to be done ... It is possible with good will and good faith," he said.
With a settlement, Turkish Cypriots would finally enjoy the full benefits of EU membership while Greek Cypriots would regain land and property in the north and win access to nearby Turkey's booming economy and its market of 70-odd million consumers.
BARRIERS
But seasoned Cyprus observers are not optimistic.
They say inter-communal contacts have fallen since the Greek Cypriots rejected the 2004 peace plan. Trade is static. Cooperation on issues ranging from crime-fighting to conservation founders on the Greek refusal to accept the legitimacy of the Turkish side.
"The two sides have become more entrenched. There are big psychological barriers," said Hasan Kutlu Ince, head of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce.
The Greek Cypriots' blocking of EU efforts to end a trade embargo against the TRNC has eroded Turkish Cypriot support for the EU. Greek Cypriots fear allowing the TRNC to trade freely with the EU could lead to de facto recognition of the enclave.
Some say the TRNC's isolation is already starting to crack.
Last week, to Greek Cypriot fury, former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder led a delegation of German businessmen to northern Cyprus. Talat has held talks -- unthinkable a few years ago -- with EU foreign ministers and U.S. secretaries of state.
Several foreign companies including Australian franchise Gloria Jean's Coffees now operate in northern Cyprus. Syria has opened a regular ferry link to the TRNC.
"I do not see how the two communities, with all the hang-ups they have about their relationship, can ever agree to come back together in one state to run their affairs," said Ayla Gurel, an analyst at the International Peace Research Institute Oslo.
"(Another Papadopoulos win) might lead the international community to think the previously unthinkable -- partition."