Downer in Ankara as Cyprus contacts gain momentum

Downer had talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, which ended after Today’s Zaman went to print. Downer recently hailed Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s statements supporting the basis for a solution in Cyprus, describing those remarks as very significant. Late last week, speaking after Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat met for five hours to discuss the economy chapter, Downer noted that Erdoğan’s “positive remarks” in an interview with three Greek Cypriot newspapers earlier this month helped to improve the “atmospherics” of the place.

“It was the first time the prime minister of Turkey has been so specific and so clear about Turkey’s support for a bizonal, bicommunal federation, with political equality and a single international personality,” he said, while noting this was the first time the Turkish leader had met with Greek Cypriot as well Turkish Cypriot journalists.

Ankara was not the only venue for intensified contacts concerning the Cyprus issue, particularly after pro-settlement Turkish Cypriot leader Talat announced over the weekend that he would seek a second presidential term in the election next month, pitting him against a popular hard-liner in a vote crucial to the reunification process on divided Cyprus.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton extended an invitation for Talat to visit Washington in late March, Hasan Erçakıca, a spokesman for the presidency of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), told the Anatolia news agency on Sunday.

Greek Cypriot media reported that 24 hours before Talat’s proposed visit to Washington, Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister Markos Kyprianou was scheduled to hold talks with Clinton, Erçakıca noted, while speaking to Anatolia, adding: “There is a need to hold some consultations [concerning Clinton’s invitation to Talat], both in regards to the election calendar and very nature of the invitation.”

Erçakıca added that the eventual response to the invitation would be given this week.

In April 2009, Clinton hosted Talat at the State Department, where she expressed confidence in the constructive approach of the Turkish Cypriot leader. At the time, emphasizing that he met with Clinton upon her invitation, Talat said Turkish Cypriots didn’t have a problem with the former Bush administration, adding, however, that the new administration’s approach to them had been particularly warm.

Greek Cypriot media, meanwhile, reported over the weekend that Spain, the current term president of the European Union, has been making preparations to hold a conference on Cyprus before April 18, the presidential elections in the KKTC, with participation of the guarantor powers of the divided island of Cyprus.

Greece, Turkey and former colonial ruler Britain are guarantor powers of Cyprus’ independence agreement in 1960 -- giving them the right to intervene militarily if the terms of that agreement are threatened.

According to a report by Greek Cypriot newspaper Politis, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, who will pay a visit to the southern part of Cyprus for the opening of the exhibition “Miro of Majocra” of the great Spanish artist Joan Miro at Nicosia Municipal Art Centre, will have an opportunity to exchange views on the details of the proposed conference with Christofias.

Moratinos is expected to visit the northern part of the divided island of Cyprus during the same trip. Politis reported that during an informal half-yearly meeting of EU foreign ministers held in Cordoba over the weekend, which the foreign ministers of European Union candidate countries, including Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoğlu, also attended, Spain, which will hold the rotating presidency of the EU until the end of June, tested the waters regarding holding such a conference.

While Turkey and the KKTC welcomed the idea, the Greek Cypriot administration is still ambiguous and watching developments in the ongoing reunification negotiations with the Turkish Cypriot side before making a final decision on the conference issue, the daily said.