The stagnation that was evident from the start and the resumption of the blame game
Only four months have passed since the President of the Republic of Cyprus, appearing on “Alpha Cyprus,” addressed the people, saying that “we may be close to developments that will lead to a plan for a solution to the Cyprus problem before the end of the year.”
Four months later, however, it appears that not only are we not on the verge of a solution plan for the Cyprus issue, but the door to permanent partition stands open wider than ever.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
Antonio Guterres, who, according to Nicos Christodoulides, was supposed to present the solution plan to us, does not even see any reason to meet with both leaders together in New York on the sidelines of his final General Assembly session as UN Secretary-General.
Not within the framework of an informal five-party meeting, which the Presidential Office had considered a certainty since last March.
Not even a trilateral meeting…
Sending an indirect yet clear message that, if it were up to him, he wouldn’t even want to see them, since he essentially has nothing left to discuss with them, just a few weeks before his final departure.
To be precise, he made it clear to them in his brief statement, right at the start of the General Assembly, that he wants them to leave him alone, stating emphatically that “he will not repeat the mistakes of the past.”
But how did we get here? Were there really prospects for a solution, or was this just a political flash in the pan from the start? A utopia? Why were false hopes raised? And how did we end up with such a hard landing?
Steps backward in record time
In reality, we never had any indication that we were on the verge of a solution… Not even after the famous 25-minute meeting in Brussels between Christodoulides and Guterres, nor after Erdogan’s meeting in Ankara with European Union leaders, on the sidelines of the NATO Summit, and certainly not during the UN Secretary-General’s own historic visit to Cyprus. On the contrary, despite the fact that there was indeed some movement, the signs did not point to any substantial progress.
The international environment was a far cry from the period of the Annan Plan, when everyone—except Tassos Papadopoulos—was aligned in favor of a solution, and also from the Crans-Montana initiative, during which the most important aspects of the Cyprus problem were brought to the table.
Despite the optimism and promises, we had clear indications from the start that some did not share the President’s excessive optimism.
First and foremost, his counterpart, who reluctantly—and belatedly—said at one point that we might be in for an important summer.
Second, the Secretary-General’s own personal envoy, who at one point gave up, returned, and then gave up again, as she couldn’t make any headway. In fact, time and again in her interviews, she conveyed the message that Cypriots themselves seem to prefer the past to the future.
No one—neither in Athens nor in Brussels—seemed to share Christodoulides’ enthusiasm.
Finally… the blame game
To be precise, the United Nations General Assembly, along with António Guterres’s separate meetings with the two leaders, provide Christodoulides and Erciyuman a prime opportunity, with elections on the horizon, to officially adopt the well-known tactic of shifting blame—the so-called “blame game” in diplomatic parlance.
Erciyurman has elections on December 6, while Christodoulides has already launched his presidential campaign for February 2028.
When Guterres asks the President of the Republic of Cyprus why things haven’t moved forward since his departure from Cyprus, the answer is simple. “They’ve made sure to stall the process at every turn since the Secretary-General left. They don’t respond to anything,” a government source told “Alpha on Sunday.”
So, after the President indicates to Guterres that he is ready to begin talks at any moment, will inform him that at the last meeting with Erhurman, he submitted a total of 19(!) proposals to help move the process forward.
He will also remind him that he extended a helping hand—which Erhurman, however, did not accept—during the Kyrenia shipwreck incident.
And that, with regard to the Confidence-Building Measures, he himself has accepted the proposal to open the Mia Milia–Athienou roadblock.
Erhurman, for his part, has already stated that he will tell the Secretary-General that Christodoulides is reinforcing the isolation of Turkish Cypriots.
He is canceling festivals, preventing international tournaments from taking place—even those for children—and emphasizing military cooperation with other countries, even inviting foreign military units to the parade marking the founding of the Republic of Cyprus.
The Record…Tatar
“We will respond to the points raised by Erhurman, one by one,” a government official assured “Alpha on Sunday,” a government official, adding that the Greek Cypriot side has much to say about the land grabs, Turkish harassment, the lack of cooperation on missing persons, and much more.
The same source expressed dissatisfaction with the Secretary-General’s statement, wondering whether things were better last year, when he finally convened a trilateral meeting in New York, while the Turkish Cypriot leadership was headed by the intransigent Ersin Tatar.
Tatar, who was unceremoniously removed from office after first being rightly criticized by Turkish Cypriots for setting a negative record. During his tenure, he did not open a single roadblock.
A record that is in danger of being broken by the President of the Republic of Cyprus. He has just 17 months left to ensure his name is not written in the dark pages of the Cyprus conflict…
