Defeat of Clerides clouds Cyprus pact hope
By Andreas Hadjipapas in Nicosia and Kerin Hope in Athens Published: February 16 2003 Financial Times
The future of a UN-brokered peace agreement on Cyprus was thrown deeper into doubt on Sunday night after Tassos Papadopoulos won an outright victory over the incumbent Glafcos Clerides as president of the Greek-Cypriot-controlled south of the divided island.
Mr Papadopoulos, leader of the opposition Democratic party, has a record of opposing a peace settlement with the Turkish Cypriots.
His victory could make it harder for UN negotiators to complete a framework agreement on reuniting the island by the present deadline of February 28.
It also raises the possibility that only the Greek Cypriots would sign an accession treaty with the European Union in April.
President Clerides conceded defeat with just over half the vote counted. Final results gave Mr Papadopoulos 51.51 per cent to 38.8 per cent for Mr Clerides. Alecos Markides, an independent candidate, trailed in third with 6.6 per cent.
Although opinion polls gave Mr Papadopoulos a clear lead over Mr Clerides, he had not been expected to capture the presidency in the first round vote.
Mr Papadopoulos tried on Sunday night to set aside his image as a "rejectionist" opposed to a settlement that would end the island's 28-year-old division and allow Greek and Turkish communities to join the EU in May 2004, together with nine other prospective member states.
He said: "I'm ready to start negotiations, and I hope the UN secretary-general will be able to break the deadlock. I'm committed to finding a solution and I'll make every effort so that a united Cyprus can join the European Union in May 2004."
Mr Papadopoulos will replace Mr Clerides as the Greek Cypriot negotiator at the UN-mediated peace talks. Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, is due to visit Cyprus on February 26 to press for acceptance of a revised plan to reunite the island as a confederation of two component states.
Mr Papadopoulos, a veteran of Eoka, the nationalist Greek Cypriot guerrilla movement that fought for independence from the UK in the 1950s, has criticised Mr Clerides' stance in the peace talks. But he said on Sunday night he wanted Mr Clerides to remain a member of the Greek Cypriot national council, which advises the president on handling the intercommunal talks.
If a deal is reached, it would have to be approved by the Greek and Turkish communities in separate referendums to be held by March 30. That would make it possible for both leaders of the communities - as the island's co-presidents - to sign Cyprus's accession treaty in Athens on April 16.
It was not immediately clear whether Rauf Denktash, the Turkish Cypriot leader, would hold direct negotiations with a new president. Mr Denktash has so far rejected the UN plan for the Turkish Cypriots to hand back 9 per cent of the island's territory, allowing 90,000 Greek Cypriots to return to their homes.
Threat to Cyprus deal as hardliner elected
The shock first-round victory was seen as a rejection of a United Nations-proposed peace plan for the island, which had been supported by the veteran incumbent, Glafcos Clerides. Mr Papadopoulos, 69, who heads the conservative DIKO party, won 51.3% of the vote against 38.1% for Mr Clerides. Mr Papadopoulos, 69, who heads the conservative DIKO party, won 51.3% of the vote against 38.1% for the veteran incumbent, Glafcos Clerides.
Most observers had believed the race was too close to call and expected a run-off next Sunday.
Conceding defeat, 84-year-old Mr Clerides said he "was ready to advise" his opponent on ongoing UN negotiations to reunite the island nearly three decades after the Turkish army invaded, seizing its northern third, after a coup aimed at uniting it with Greece.
"Mr Papadopoulos telephoned me to ask if I was willing to advise him on the course of negotiations and, of course, I said I would," said the outgoing president, who oversaw the agreement made in December for the country to join the European Union.
The UN has given both sides until February 28 to agree a blueprint that envisages the two communities reuniting in a federation of two component states with a weak central government.
Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, will visit the island on February 26 in what is widely seen as a last-ditch effort to get Greeks and Turks to at least sign the framework of a solution. Such agreement would allow a reunited Cyprus to join the EU next year along with nine other newly anointed members.
Mr Annan, who may well announce revisions to the settlement plan, is expected to present the deal on a take-it-or-leave-it basis during his forthcoming visit.
Citing Mr Papadopoulos's tough track record as a rejectionist, seasoned Cyprus observers worry that as the island's new president he will not only be a much tougher negotiator than his predecessor but may refuse to sign the historic agreement altogether.
"The feeling is that Papadopoulos will work much more at negotiating a solution," Professor Andreas Theofanous, a political economist at the private university Intercollege, said.
"Overall, I'd say that Greek Cypriots believe they deserve something better than the Annan plan which in effect turns Cyprus into a protectorate and treats our country as if it were a second class state."
The 150-page plan, the most comprehensive to date, is regarded by the British and Americans, who have been pushing hardest for a solution on the troubled island, as the best on offer.
Under its terms, Turkish Cypriots, who account for 18% of the population but control 37% of the land, would give back around 10% of territory in exchange for power sharing.
Denying the rejectionist label, Mr Papadopoulos has said repeatedly in recent months that he is committed to reaching a settlement.
Last October he told a Turkish Cypriot newspaper in London that he regretted he had not done more "so that our Turkish Cypriot compatriots have a bigger share of the prosperity enjoyed by Cyprus".
Tassos Papadopoulos
The 69-year-old conservative is a hardliner who has rejected all previous UN attempts to reunify Cyprus. In the 70s, and again in the 80s when the then UN secretary general, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, produced his "set of ideas" - the nearest Greek and Turkish Cypriots had ever got to reconciliation - Mr Papadopoulos came down firmly on the side of the rejectionists.
His friends are now counting on him to keep it that way, while his foes - a not inconsiderable number - are hoping that as head of state he will finally see the light.
A prominent member of Eoka, the guerrilla group that campaigned in the 50s against British rule for union with Greece, the UK-trained barrister has rarely tried to dispel his reputation as a diehard nationalist. In the early 60s he was second in command of the Akritas organisation, whose avowed aim was to rid the island of Turkish Cypriots - a goal that ignited much intercommunal fighting and eventually led to the Turkish invasion in 1974.
In the 90s, as Greeks supported the Serbs during the Balkan wars, his law firm was alleged to have set up companies through which the Milosevic regime is believed to have circumvented the UN embargo and channelled funds for its armed forces. His alleged involvement in such activities got him blacklisted from parties and receptions at western embassies.
But as a consummate political animal Mr Papadopoulos knows when to move with the times. Campaigning for the presidency, he ran unabashedly on a ticket of "change". Backed by Cyprus's powerful communist party, Akel, which has long supported reconciliation, the wealthy rightwinger promised he could reach a settlement because "times had changed".
In recent months he has gone out of his way to pledge support for the Turkish Cypriots, even appealing to them to "participate in the happiness and welfare of a united Europe", as he cast his ballot yesterday.
The veteran Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash, has already said he cannot do business with Mr Papadopoulos because of his "Turk-bashing", hardline past. But ultimately there can be little doubt that he will sit down with the new Greek Cypriot president because Ankara has made it plain that it wants negotiations to continue.
Some western diplomats point out that with age Mr Papadopoulos has not only mellowed but may well be the man to make the sort of compromises Greek Cypriots will accept in a referendum needed to clinch any solution.
17 February 2003 THE INDEPENDENT
United Nations efforts to end the 29-year division of Cyprus were dealt a blow yesterday as the opposition hardliner Tassos Papadopoulos claimed a victory in the Greek-Cypriot presidential elections.
"The Cyprus people have decided. People have voted for change, given me a mandate. I want to give assurances that this will be a unity government," Mr Papadopoulos said.
Less than two weeks before a UN deadline for agreement on a reunification plan put forward by the secretary general, Kofi Annan, voters spectacularly rejected the incumbent, Glafcos Clerides, in favour of the communist and leftist-backed challenger.
Mr Papadopoulos earned more than half the vote, according to election officials, avoiding an expected run-off with Mr Clerides, who trailed with 39 per cent.
The result could determine whether a united Cyprus signs the European Union accession treaty in April or whether the chasm with Turkish Cypriots on the north of the island widens.
Mr Papadopoulos, a stern critic of parts of the Annan plan, will take over negotiations. The UN blueprint envisages a reunited island joining the EU next year, with broad power-sharing with Turkish Cypriots.
Mr Annan is due in Cyprus tomorrow in an attempt to get approval of his plan from both sides of the UN-patrolled green line that divides the island.
The change of leadership brings an end to a decade of deadlocked talks between the Turkish-Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash, and Mr Clerides, 83.
Mr Denktash, who has been widely criticised for stalling talks on the UN proposal since its launch in November, has already ruled out a deal in time for the deadline. "We cannot achieve anything by the 28th," he said on Saturday.
The UN has demanded agreement by 28 February to give Greek and Turkish-Cypriot authorities enough time to stage separate referendums, scheduled for 30 March, on the plan, and the signing of the EU accession treaty on 16 April.
Cyprus has been split in two with the south controlled by Greek Cypriots and the north occupied by Turks since Turkey invaded in 1974 in the wake of an abortive coup by supporters of union with Greece.
A breakaway Turkish-Cypriot state in the north is only recognised by Turkey, which maintains 40,000 troops there.
There are deep divisions on both sides over the Annan plan. In the Turkish-Cypriot north, leaders have criticised it for asking them to surrender territory. Greek Cypriots worry the plan rides roughshod over human rights.
Mr Papadopoulos, the leader of the centrist Democratic Party, Diko, crucially won the backing of the powerful communist party, Akel, in his bid to take office. He attracted broad support by promising to give Greek Cypriots a better deal.
Mr Papadopoulos, a 40-year veteran of Cypriot politics, has softened his stance on the negotiations since emerging as presidential favourite.
Mr Clerides' attempt to win a third spell as president was badly damaged by the candidacy of his aide, Alecos Markides. The Cypriot Attorney General, believed to be one of the main contributors to the Annan plan, split Mr Clerides' conservative support.
By Jean Christou
THE RACE to reach a deal on Cyprus by February 28 is still on, both President-elect Tassos Papadopoulos and UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan pledged yesterday.
Papadopoulos, who on Sunday swept to first-round victory with 51.5 per cent of the vote to incumbent President Glafcos Clerides' 38.8 per cent, said yesterday he did not want to see any break in the ongoing UN-led talks with Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash.
Denktash, however, expressed regret at the election of Papadopoulos, who fought hard during the campaign to reverse his reputation as a hardliner on the Cyprus problem, and hinted the talks could collapse under Clerides' successor.
"As long as Papadopoulos does not draw himself a realistic plan and abandon his imaginary solutions, there is no reason to continue with this dead-end process," Denktash said
Commenting on the election defeat of his veteran sparring partner, whom he phoned yesterday to say "goodbye", Denktash said: "I am saddened that the will of the Greek Cypriot people not desiring an agreement claimed victory."
But in Brussels, Annan, who is due in Cyprus on February 26, said he believed it was still possible to reach a deal by the UN deadline, which is only 11 days away.
"I hope Iraq will not distract me from my objective to reach an agreement by the end of February," Annan told a new conference when asked if the Iraqi crisis had sidelined the Cyprus issue.
"I think it is still possible," he added.
Annan congratulated Papadopoulos on his election victory, saying the DIKO leader was well versed on the question of Cyprus, and a seasoned negotiator.
And despite comments by Turkish Prime Minster Abdullah Gul that Annan was ready to submit a third version of his peace plan, the UN Secretary-general said he would not decide his next initiative on Cyprus until after he had met Papadopoulos.
Annan said after a meeting with Greek Prime Minster Costas Simitis that a new situation had now emerged following the election. Simitis told Annan that Athens and Ankara still wished to go ahead with planned talks on security in the context of the Cyprus negotiations. Papadopoulos is due to meet Simitis in Athens on Monday.
On Sunday night, Simitis described Papadopoulos as "a politician who has closely monitored all developments in the Cyprus problem and who has great experience and knowledge of the situation."
Speaking yesterday after a meeting with Clerides, who cancelled his scheduled Monday meeting with Denktash, Papadopoulos said he had already formed his negotiating team, but declined to give any names.
"My objective is to try and ensure that there is no vacuum in the negotiations," he said. "I asked the President to remain a member of the National Council and I intend to make the best use of his experience, his knowledge and all he has done at the negotiating table so far."
A subdued Clerides, on his way to a European Council meeting in Brussels yesterday, told reporters at Larnaca Airport that the Cyprus mandate now belonged to Papadopoulos, but pledged to offer him any help he required. He said he would take part in the National Council if and when he was needed, but not on a permanent basis after February 28, when his term of office officially expires.
Clerides said he believed he had lost the elections because of the "people's desire for a change. "The people's verdict is respected, and the change will take place", he said.
"The mandate belongs now to the president-elect and any help he asks of me I will grant it, but the negotiations are not my issue any more. Surely, the new president will examine the proposals which the Turks submitted for alterations, our proposals and will read the minutes of the meetings to have a full picture of where we are."
Papadopoulos said he was ready for Annan's visit to the island and that there was an "agreed and set policy for the continuation of the negotiations with flexibility and good will, with a real and sincere aim to find a solution of the Cyprus problem if possible within the timeframes".
"If something like that is not possible, this will not be caused by our side but by the continued intransigence of Denktash and the undefined blurred climate in Turkey," he added.
"We hope that the negotiations can continue in the same atmosphere as they have so far with the hope of finding a solution as soon as possible."
One of Papadopoulos' first meetings yesterday was with UN envoy Alvaro de Soto, who travelled to Ankara later in the day.
Papadopoulos said they had listed a number of issues, which had to be addressed urgently in the framework of the negotiations. "I assured Mr De Soto of our eager wish that there be continuity to the talks and no gap," he said.
De Soto said he was very pleased with his first meeting with Papadopoulos, who expressed "his desire to continue the peace process without interruption."
"I look forward to continuing meeting with him frequently, perhaps together with our teams as soon as Mr Papadopoulos' team is in place. I look forward to this collaboration," De Soto said, adding that there would probably not be any official negotiations until at least Friday this week.
When he arrived in Ankara De Soto again stressed the need for a deal to be struck by the end of the month. The UN plan is a tightly-packed agenda providing for a deal that would see a reunited Cyprus sign the EU accession treaty in April, although a divided Cyprus would not be excluded, European Commission President Romano Prodi reiterated yesterday.
"Papadopoulos told me he would be ready to participate in the talks in a few days, because he also does not want the talks to be interrupted," De Soto said. "He is aware of the time limitation."
In his victory speech late on Sunday, Papadopoulos promised a new era for Cyprus.
"It is our commitment and our duty to continue the negotiations with flexibility and good will to bring about the necessary improvements to the UN peace plan under discussion so that it becomes a workable and viable solution," he said.
Papadopoulos stressed that he wanted negotiations, not to deprive the Turkish Cypriots of their rights, but to ensure that both communities had before them a workable plan that would last.
He appealed to the Turkish Cypriots to judge him by what he was and not by what they were told he was. "I want to take this opportunity to send a message to the Turkish Cypriots that have been poisoned by slander and distortion of truth," he said.
CYPRUS MAIL 18/02/2003
CYPRUS MAIL 18/02/2003