Denktaş-era officials say 'velvet divorce' an option in Cyprus

The officials -- former Undersecretary to the President Ergün Olgun, former Parliament Speaker Hakkı Atun and former Turkish Cypriot representative in New York Osman Ertuğ -- spoke at a press conference in Ankara after talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on Tuesday.

Members of the group told reporters that they welcomed Davutoğlu's remarks that Turkey would consider “other options” if efforts aimed at finding a solution in Cyprus fail.

Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat and Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christofias have been holding talks aimed at reuniting Cyprus since September. Talat has said the two sides achieved progress on nearly half of the issues under discussion, although disagreements remain in some key matters including property, land distribution and security guarantees. The Greek Cypriot side is even less optimistic, saying there has been little progress and that chances for a deal soon are dim.

In remarks to the press last week Talat, a staunch supporter of reunification, agreed that other alternatives would be considered if the reunification talks with Christofias fail to produce a deal by the end of the year or early next year.

Denktaş, who preceded Talat, opposed reunification of the island throughout his lengthy term as president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC). Despite his opposition, however, Turkish Cypriots overwhelmingly voted for a UN plan to reunite the island in 2004. But the island remained divided as the plan was rejected by the Greek Cypriots in the same vote.

Olgun, Atun and Ertuğ were visiting Ankara for meetings on behalf of a Turkish Cypriot think tank of which they are members. They said the meeting with Davutoğlu was originally planned as a half-hour talk, but they ended up meeting for one-and-a-half hours.

According to the Denktaş-era officials, conditions on the island are not ripe for reunification, and they argued that a peaceful split of the island by the consent of both sides, or a “velvet divorce,” as in the case of the former Czechoslovakia, has been heavily discussed as an alternative option in both sides of Cyprus in the past weeks.

Turkey and Talat insist on a solution based on the establishment of a new, federal Cypriot state before the end of the year, when the European Union, which Turkey aspires to join, assesses Turkey's refusal to open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus. Greek Cyprus has warned that there will be consequences to Turkey's membership bid if Ankara still refuses to open its ports and airports then.

Denktaş, on the other hand, has called for a loose confederation of two independent states and dismissed a federal solution. Olgun, Atun and Ertuğ echoed Denktaş, saying that the ideal solution for Cyprus is a “confederal settlement” and added that both the Turkish and Greek Cypriot sides must have equal sovereign rights in a new settlement.

They said they had “positive” relations with Talat, although they added that they maintain dialogue with the president with a “critical” perspective. Talat and Christofias are due to meet in the buffer zone separating the island today to discuss issues of "migration, citizenship, foreigners and asylum.” The two leaders will meet again on Aug. 6, and then have a break until Sept. 3.

Talat hopes that with active international involvement the two sides will engage in “give-and-take” negotiations on major issues of dispute in the second phase of the talks, following which the two sides will reach an agreement on how to reunite the island. This agreement would later be put to referendum in both Turkish and Greek Cyprus in early 2010.

Talat had earlier said he would not run for re-election in presidential elections in the KKTC, slated for April 2010, if he does not see prospects for reunification of the island.