Talat: Greek Cypriot side has always avoided cooperation

The Greek Cypriot side has “always avoided” cooperating with the Turkish Cypriots, former Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat said on Tuesday, with his successor Tufan Erhurman and President Nikos Christodoulides set to meet in the buffer zone on Wednesday. “Cooperating with the Greek Cypriot side is not an easy task. They avoid it because they believe that cooperation would elevate the Turkish side’s position and increase its international visibility,” he said. He said that at present, there is “indirect cooperation between our police forces”, but that “even in that, the Greek Cypriot side appoints retired police officers to the commission, while we appoint active officers”. Additionally, regarding the electricity grid, he said that “we have an interconnected electricity network, but they try not to show it”. Related Articles • ‘Both sides agree in principle’ for more frequent leaders’ meetings • Foreign ministry tells embassies to stay away from Dana Cyprus problem briefing • Menelaou says Turkish side is ‘slowing down developments’ on Cyprus problem • Holguin: Confidence-building measures an ‘indispensable condition’ for enlarged meeting • Fidan: Greek Cypriot side will never agree to power-sharing “They collect the money through the chamber of commerce, but they communicate with our engineers via radio. The Greek Cypriot side has always avoided cooperation,” he said. With this in mind, he said that “it seems that achieving a comprehensive solution within the United Nations’ framework has become quite difficult under today’s conditions”. “The Greek Cypriot people rejected the [2004] Annan plan. The actors are considering how to find a solution which the Greek Cypriot people will not reject. Therefore, a step-by-step solution is being considered. I think that some steps can now be taken, taking into account the new balances” in the region,” he said. On this front, he stressed that “one of our most fundamental policies must be that the Turkish side is not seen as the side which puts forward impossible proposals and brings the process to a standstill”. “There is no need to go on adventures. We should pursue what is possible. It was the Greek Cypriot side which flipped the table in Crans-Montana [in 2017]. We could not explain this fact to the world, and we fought amongst ourselves,” he said. As such, he added that “the Turkish side needs to give the right messages to the international community with the right policy”, before stressing that “the Turkish Cypriot side and Turkey need to demonstrate that they want a solution”. “The Turkish side’s stance during the Annan plan and Crans-Montana periods has been forgotten. Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot side need to explain their policies to the world and demonstrate that they want a solution,” he said. Confidence-building measures are expected to dominate Wednesday’s discussion between Christodoulides and Erhurman, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres having said at the end of his visit to the island last month that a new enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem will be convened “after adequate progress” is achievedto this end. It is now expected that the two leaders will agree to hold more frequent meetings with one another with this aim. Nikos Christodoulides and Tufan Erhurman Talat on Tuesday also passed comment on the issue of property and of the recent arrests made by the Republic of Cyprus of people it accuses of illegally using or selling property in the north which was owned by Greek Cypriots prior to 1974. “The Greek Cypriot leadership has shot itself in the foot by keeping the German woman in prison for two years without trial. A European state cannot arrest someone without any trial. The principle is trial without detention. Imprisonment is only possible if it is a serious crime and a risk of escape,” he said. He stressed that the crime of which the German woman, who has remained in detention since being arrested in 2024, is accused “is not a serious one”, and that despite this “they are still holding her in prison”. “If the news in the Bild newspaper is true, this issue has drawn a reaction from Germany. This seems likely to cause headaches for the Greek Cypriot side. The matter will be taken to the European Court of Human Rights [ECtHR],” he said. He said that given that the ECtHR considers the Immovable Property Commission, which was set up by the Turkish Cypriots in 2005 to offer remedies for Greek Cypriots seeking individual solutions to property lost during and after 1974, to be an effective domestic remedy “this will cause problem for the Greek Cypriot side”. This, he said, is because should a case be filed regarding the German woman’s continued detention, “it will not be a Turkish Cypriot [filing it], but a citizen of the most powerful country in the European Union”. Nonetheless, he said, “we need to show the whole world that the Immovable Property Commission is actively working so that the arrests made by the Greek Cypriot side become baseless”. “If we do not do this, if we only say that the Immovable Property Commission is the only solution, we will not achieve any results,” he said. The Immovable Property Commission According to its latest figures, released on August 14, a total of 8,755 applications have been lodged with the IPC, of which 3,592 have been concluded. The IPC has awarded exactly £662,933,062 (€773,480,465) in compensation and has also ruled for exchange and compensation in two cases, for restitution in seven cases, and for restitution and compensation in eight cases. Additionally, it has delivered a decision for restitution after the Cyprus problem in one case, and in another ruled for partial restitution.