Nicosia, Cyprus. Former Turkish Cypriot chief negotiator Ozdil Nami said a reported new power-sharing plan aimed at resolving the Cyprus problem is neither necessary nor appropriate. He said the two sides had already agreed on the essential elements of governance through a Cypriot-owned, Cypriot-led process.
Past convergences
Nami said the divergence over the rotating presidency had never been about the principle itself, but rather the method of election.
He said the competences of the federal government had already been comprehensively agreed, while the question of sovereignty had been effectively addressed in a joint declaration published in 2014 by then leaders Nicos Anastasiades and Dervish Eroglu.
Role of the United Nations
Nami said that, at a time when both current leaders had publicly expressed readiness to respect past convergences, the role of the United Nations should be to safeguard and build on what had already been achieved rather than reopen settled matters or redesign arrangements negotiated by the parties.
He added that the UN’s efforts would be better directed toward helping the sides bridge the remaining gaps instead of revisiting issues he said had already been resolved.
Objections to a transitional period
Regarding the idea of a transitional period for implementing an agreement, as suggested in media reports over the weekend, Nami said previous attempts at similar step-by-step implementation had failed for a variety of reasons.
He said those reasons included concerns about implied recognition, loss of negotiating leverage, and domestic political sensitivities on both sides.
Nami said those realities had not disappeared and that it was therefore difficult to see why more time and energy should be invested in approaches that had consistently proven unworkable.
Interim agreements and territory
He said finding mutually acceptable interim agreements on parts of a solution would be more difficult than resolving the remaining core issues left from the most recent negotiations held in Crans-Montana in 2017.
Nami also warned against suggestions that territorial exchanges should take place before the implementation of a comprehensive solution. He said assuming Greek Cypriot support for a final agreement would increase if territorial concessions were delivered before agreement on power-sharing and political equality was, at best, an optimistic proposition.
