Rotating presidency called necessary for equality in Cyprus — Cyprus Mail
In Cyprus, Mehmet Dana, undersecretary to Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman, said that a rotating presidency between the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities after a settlement is an indispensable component of political equality. Cyprus Mail reports.
According to Dana, political equality must be the foundation of a system in which the sides jointly exercise a limited number of specific powers and have shared competences. He stressed that this principle should not be subject to negotiations and must be accepted before a new negotiating process begins.
The specific terms of the rotating presidency, including the length of terms in office, may be discussed after negotiations begin, Dana said.
Differences over political equality
Dana said that the main reason for the failure of previous rounds of negotiations on the Cyprus issue, including the talks between Nikos Anastasiades and Mustafa Akıncı in Crans-Montana in 2017, was making political equality a matter for negotiation. He also referred to the UN secretary-general’s approach, under which a new round of talks must differ from previous ones.
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Deputy government spokesperson Yannis Antoniou previously said that the Turkish Cypriot side also interprets political equality as sovereign equality, and the Greek Cypriot side cannot agree with this position. According to him, the issue of a rotating presidency should be the outcome of negotiations, rather than a precondition for their resumption.
Conditions for a new round of talks
The sides also differ in their assessments of the fourth point of Erhürman’s methodology. It provides for a UN guarantee that embargoes imposed on Turkish Cypriots will be lifted if the Greek Cypriot side leaves negotiations again.
Antoniou described this approach as the most problematic, believing that predetermined consequences could encourage the sides not to engage in dialogue, but to try to force their opponent to leave the negotiating table. Dana, for his part, said that this point is intended to prevent a situation in which Turkish Cypriots are left without a result after a new round of negotiations.
Christodoulides and Erhürman will travel to New York next week for the UN high-level week. Both are due to meet separately with UN Secretary-General António Guterres to discuss the Cyprus issue.
