Turkish Cypriot negotiator, Kudret Ozersay has said that the Turkish Cypriot side has given its approval for the appointment of Espen Barth Eide from Norway to the post of UN Secretary-General’s special adviser for Cyprus, ‘Kibris Postasi’ reports.
The leaking of Eide’s name to the Greek Cypriot press before the Greek Cypriot side had a chance to announce its response to the UN Secretary-General’s proposal was described by Ozersay as “lacking seriousness”.
Ozersay said that according to the UN rules of procedure, the UNSG should submit the name of his new special adviser to the Security Council and then announce it himself.
Meanwhile, in statements to ‘Kibris’, Ozersay argued that developing a “regional cooperation model” in parallel to the negotiations is a must. He claimed that acquiring the Turkish Cypriots’ consent for regional cooperation, which will bring stability in in Eastern Mediterranean and prosperity to the two sides, is absolutely necessary.
Arguing that cooperation in the fields of tourism, trade, transport, water and natural gas could be further diversified, Ozersay said that Paphos was the area that returned the most ‘no’ votes to the Annan Plan, but it could start supporting the solution when income increases as a result of cooperation.
Ozersay noted that this cooperation could be materialised without jeopardising the positions of the sides at the negotiating table. He said that such relations would require “a temporary consensus which will not cause recognition” and would be introduced “through the modus vivendi method“; meaning that there could be cooperation despite mutually recognised differences.
Ozersay expressed the view that the ‘give and take’ stage of the negotiations should start at the beginning of September so that the process can reach a conclusion. He argued that the UN officials also agree with this view and said that UN deputy Lisa Buttenheim told him that the UN wants to offer its help in the process and this is why it will appoint a new special adviser.
