What the papers say
EXPECTATIONS — or the lack of them — ahead of yesterday’s meeting between President Mustafa Akıncı and Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades were the subject of a column by Hasan Hastürer.
Writing for the daily Kıbrıs, on Thursday he said that while he wanted to be “hopeful” concerning the future of Cyprus peace talks, previous experience meant there was “not enough data to merit being hopeful and positive for a solution”.
Writing for yesterday’s edition of the daily, he highlighted a “particularly interesting” and “mature” statement issued by the “youth wing of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), which called for a return to negotiations and warned against attempts to “go outside” previously agreed “parameters”.
Evaluating the CTP youth statement, Mr Hastürer said that “political equality” between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots “must be accepted without debate”.
Any new round of formal talks should be “results-orientated and should not be open-ended,” he stressed.
“There is not one subject that has been left untouched concerning the Cyprus issue, which has been subject to negotiations since 1968.”
With the passing of time, the status quo on the island has become “institutionalised”, Mr Hastürer wrote.
“There is a status quo in the north and the south of the island,” he said. “Those in favour of the status quo on both sides are against a solution.
“The status quo supporters have seeped into all institutions, including political parties, and are sabotaging the solution process using veiled language. . . Onesided views surrounded with red lines will not contribute to a solution.”
Mr Hastürer recalled how “many years ago a Turkish Cypriot leader” was in the US giving a speech at a think-tank event, where he said he was “in favour of a solution under any condition”.
When the leader in question was asked what approach he would take to bring the Greek Cypriot round to a solution, “he could not give a satisfactory answer”.
“Similarly today . . . it is important to help the other side to come to the point of a solution,” Mr Hastürer wrote, adding that negotiating while remaining loyal to a “partitionist mind” would make it impossible to achieve results from any negotiations.
“But my hope for a solution remains completely alive,” he stressed. “And I want to be hopeful.
“The meeting of the leaders . . . will either increase our hope, or it will break it. Either we will push ahead for a solution, or the status quo will become permanent.”