The respected columnist, who has close contacts within the Turkish Cypriot administration describes as “completely for show” the decision of the leaders to meet not once but twice every month, which he says is the only “success” of the US Vice President Joe Biden’s to the island.
“It is even said that this agreement had been reached even before Biden’s coming to the island”, he notes arguing that “they are meeting twice every month, but actually there is no such a thing as negotiations at the table”.
Writing in Yeni Duzen, Ozuslu further asserts that neither the leaders nor the negotiators can negotiate and therefore the meeting last week between President Anastasiades and President Eroglu was a literal “fiasco”.
“…There was a really strange environment. While negotiator Kudret Ozersay was drawing positive pictures after almost every meeting he had with Mavroyiannis, President Eroglu, to whom he is bound, was in the contrary giving negative messages. Was this a ‘signal of contradiction’ between Eroglu and Ozersay or were they staging a trick against the community? …
When I followed all these concerns, question marks and contradictory information and reached ‘reliable information’, I saw that the scenery was really serious. Let me summarize the data I obtained without entering into details:
– The course in the negotiations is heading towards a dead-end. And the reason for this is the fact that the process which is included in the ‘joint declaration’ signed by the two leaders is not put into operation.
– The Turkish Cypriot side is the one which does not materialize the ‘screening process’ that is included in the ‘joint declaration’ and avoids this. Because this is not done, the Greek Cypriot side is finding ground for bringing to the table ‘old’ issues. This is the reason for which the ‘rotating presidency’ issue was reopened.
– Negotiator Kudret Ozersay, by accepting to discuss ‘new’ moves brought by his counterpart Mavroyiannis regarding ‘old’ topics, brought the 33 articles agreed between Talat and Christofias to the point of being renegotiated.
– The latest interesting move was the reference to the formula of ‘a map for a referendum in return to a geographical map’. It is highly possible for this statement by Ozersay to get ahead of possible progress on other chapters by early bringing onto the agenda the issue of territory which is on the top of the most critical matters.
– It is said that in the reports, which Buttenheim will convey to New York, it is highly possible for the Turkish Cypriot leadership to be shown as the ‘side that prevents the progress of the process’. The reason for this is the fact that it does not allow the process in the joint declaration to function. Anastasiades and his team seem at least in favor of the function of this process and keep up appearances.
In the light of the above information, the following conclusions arise:
First, the statements regarding ‘urgent solution and urgent referendum’ which are artificially pumped to the public opinion are extremely far away from the realities and they are even a dream.
Second, the collapse of the negotiating process could be officially announced any moment. This will undoubtedly be made by the UN.
Third, when the UN announces that the process has collapsed, it is highly possible that it will actually accuse the Turkish Cypriot leadership. And the Turkish Cypriot side will be put in the ‘position of being accused’ once more after many years…”
Speaking to the press, President Dervis Erolgu stated that the allegations are not true and that negotiations were ongoing.
