CYPRUS TALKS: TURKISH MFA PLUGS NEW PROPOSAL ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 000014 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR EUR/SE E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/05/2020 TAGS: CY PREL TU UNFICYP US SUBJECT: CYPRUS TALKS: TURKISH MFA PLUGS NEW PROPOSAL ON CROSS-VOTING REF: 09 ANKARA 1718 Classified By: CDA Doug Silliman, for reasons: 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. Turkish MFA Undersecretary Sinirlioglu on January 5 passed the Charge a copy of the Turkish Cypriots' latest proposal on Governance and Power-Sharing that includes a cross-voting provision to enable Greek Cypriots to have a 10-20 percent weighted vote on Turkish Cypriot candidates for President and Vice President in the new federation. Sinirlioglu described this as a significant concession, and indicated that it had come over the objections of "TRNC Prime Minister" Eroglu and his National Unity Party (UBP). He also noted that the proposal contains a "caveat" of granting Turkey the EU Four Freedoms on Cyprus after a solution -- a condition likely to be a complicating factor. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) On January 5 MFA Undersecretary Sinirlioglu convoked the Charge, accompanied by POL Counselor, to convey a copy of the Turkish Cypriot proposal on Governance and Power Sharing that was passed to Greek Cypriot leader Christofias the previous day. Deputy Undersecretary Halit Cevik and Greece/Cyprus Deputy Director General Kerim Uras sat in. Sinirlioglu noted that the T/C proposal had been handed over to Christofias in UNSYG Special Advisor Downer's presence. He said Ankara also had passed a copy to the Spanish EU Presidency and to the UK, but had asked them to keep it confidential and not to pass it along to other EU members. He also asked the USG to maintain the confidentiality of the package. ¶3. (C) Sinirlioglu noted that Talat (and, by implication, Ankara) is trying to keep "one step ahead" of the ROC in the negotiating process, and therefore had decided to yield to the Greek Cypriot insistence on the principle of cross-voting -- something which has never existed on Cyprus since its 1960 founding. He said the Turkish Cypriot proposal would allow a 10 percent weighted voting in the first election of the President and Vice President. This percentage would ultimately rise to 20 percent. (Note: The proposal's actual wording states that "the Greek Cypriot votes for the Turkish Cypriot candidates shall be weighted so that they form the same percentage as the percentage of the Turkish Cypriot registered voters in the total number of the Turkish Cypriot electorate and Greek Cypriot electorate together." End Note) ; Sinirlioglu commented that the principle is more important than the actual percentage, and that Christofias had said earlier that even one percent would be sufficient. ¶4. (C) Sinirlioglu added that the "caveat" in the proposal is that Turkey should also be granted the EU Four Freedoms after a solution. (Note: These are the EU Freedoms of Movement of Goods, Capital, Services and Persons -- distinct from the Three Freedoms of Movement, Settlement and Property which have been laced into the Cyprus talks since the late 1970s. End Note) He said the granting of EU membership to the Greek Cypriots in 2004 had altered the balance of power on the island. Any settlement should reinstitute the original balance, with a derogation for Turkey to enjoy the EU Four Freedoms. This point would have to be "negotiated" with the EU, Sinirlioglu said, but argued that the new proposal "deserves support" from the USG. ¶5. (C) We asked if "TRNC Prime Minister" Eroglu and his National Unity Party (UBP) now supported this cross-voting concept, since we understood that earlier they had strongly opposed it. Sinirlioglu conceded that UBP "were against it but have been fully informed" about the latest package. Uras interjected that the Governance and Power-Sharing proposal should be seen as a "significant sacrifice" by Turkish Cypriot leader Talat and the Turkish Cypriots because it was viewed as such a sensitive issue in the north. ¶6. (C) The Charge said the US has been closely following the negotiating process and remains cautiously optimistic about a settlement. He promised to consult with Washington on the latest proposal. He asked if Ankara has seen any movement on the calls for a trilateral (Greece, Britain, Turkey) or quadrilateral (Greece, Turkey, T/C, G/C) meeeting. Sinirlioglu said the Spanish have been working on the latter and are optimistic after getting positive initial reactions from the Greek Cypriots and Greece. On the former, he said Ankara is still talking to the British to get clarity on their intentions. "We don't want to give an excuse to anyone to derail talks on the island." Now is not the time to discuss issues such as the Treaty of Guarantee, he said. "Let us first see a light at the end of the negotiating tunnel." Issues of Governance and Property are more concrete, he noted. ¶7. (C) A non-paper attached to the draft proposal states that it contains "other elements which are forward leaning," such as: changing the T/C position on numerical equality in some important economic institutions; giving some additional competences (such as health and antiquities) to the federal government; giving the federal executive the right to suspend an agreement of the Constituent States and refer it to the Constitutional Court, even if this agreement is on a matter that falls within the competence of the Constituent States. ¶8. (C) COMMENT: It is instructive, and laudable, that Ankara seems to have supported Talat in this package over the objections of "PM" Eroglu and his UBP colleagues. The GOT seems both determined to bridge key differences on this Governance and Power-Sharing chapter, and also to get credit from us and the EU for being "forward leaning." The caveat on granting to Turkey the EU Four Freedoms on Cyprus will almost certainly be a complicating factor. ¶9. (C) We will scan and transmit the Proposal and non-paper to EUR/SE. "Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.s gov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turkey" SILLIMAN