Reflections on the report "The Cyprus Stalemate: What next"

REFLECTIONS ON THE REPORT

"THE CYPRUS STALEMATE: WHAT NEXT"

(prepared by the International Crisis Group)

AND THE WAY FORWARD

A thorough analysis of the International Crisis Group Report “The Cyprus Stalemate: What Next” was conducted at a seminar organized by the Research Center – Intercollege on 13 April 2006. The speakers Professor Michalis Attalides, Yiouli Taki, Researcher, and Professor Andreas Theophanous reached the conclusion that the Report was inaccurate, imbalanced and subjective. The seminar was chaired by Hubert Faustmann, Associate Professor at Intercollege, who commented on the Annan Plan, the Report and the overall atmosphere.

Professor Attalides expressed his concern for the Report and underlined its main drawbacks and inaccuracies. The unilateral measures recommended to be taken by each side, are considered to be catastrophic, in Prof. Attalides view, while for the steps presented for the EU to proceed on, he mentioned that they will not be followed for the simple reason that the EU does not have the ability nor the intention to proceed to actions violating international law.

Yiouli Taki stressed that the overall tone of the Report indicates that it seems that it was written in the immediate aftermath of the referenda, and the way it was written proves that the authors had pre-determined conclusions they wanted to reach. Taki also made comments in relation to the Annan Plan and how in the last phase it was formulated in a way which was very closed to the Turkish positions.

Professor Theophanous underlined that there is a hidden agenda of historical revisionism and the main aim was to absolve Turkey of its responsibilities in Cyprus and to blame President Papadopoulos and the Greek-Cypriot community in general for the stalemate in Cyprus. As to the way forward, Prof. Theophanous suggested that the solution should be based on three pillars: the high-level agreements, UN resolutions and the European political culture and system of values in which Cyprus belongs.

Closing the discussion the speakers stressed the need for an effective communication strategy from Cyprus.

Research Center - Intercollege