CYPRUS: T/C LEADER TALAT COMPLAINS WITH EQUAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NICOSIA 000111 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/SE E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/22/2020 TAGS: PREL PGOV TR CY SUBJECT: CYPRUS: T/C LEADER TALAT COMPLAINS WITH EQUAL VIGOR ABOUT CHRISTOFIAS AND HIS OWN OPPOSITION AND MEDIA Classified By: AMB. Frank C. Urbancic for reasons 1.4(b) and 1.4(d) ¶1. Summary: (C) "My flexibility is portrayed in the north as begging to the Greek Cypriots and the international community," Turkish Cypriot (T/C) leader Mehmet Ali Talat confided to the Ambassador in a February 19 meeting. Talat, visibly downbeat, charged that Christofias simply "could not manage the Cyprus Problem" after he decided not to fight, despite urging by Talat, a February 18 resolution by the Cypriot Parliament rejecting the guarantee system, the reddest of T/C redlines, in any new, post-solution Cyprus. Talat said that his own "parliament" would now have to retaliate, further complicating the negotiating process. Talat said he wanted to speed up the negotiations before his own April 18 "Presidential" elections. Regarding those elections, Talat said that "nobody knows the outcome" at present, but he assured the Ambassador that a victory for his main rival, "PM" and hard-line, National Unity Party (UBP) leader Dervish Eroglu, would mean the end of the UN-brokered peace process. Talat urged the Ambassador to encourage the UN to accelerate the process; for his part, the Ambassador said he would raise the issue with UNSYG Special Adviser Downer and do whatever else he could to facilitate the peace process. End Summary -------------- "I warned Christofias" -------------- ¶2. (C) Talat appeared crestfallen when he learned from an aide during the meeting that the G/C-controlled Cypriot Parliament had passed, a day earlier, a non-binding resolution renouncing continuation of the guarantee system, a redline for both Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots. "I warned Christofias" that the resolution would be a problem, he complained. Now, he said, his own "parliament", dominated by the hard-line UBP, would pass its own "reactionary" measure (Note: The T/C "Parliament" on February 24 passed a resolution stating, among other things, that the "1960 Treaty of Guarantee cannot be changed." End Note). Nevertheless, Talat said that he would stick with the negotiations despite things becoming "more and more difficult" as well as "boring" due to Christofias' timidity, negativity, and even simple unwillingness to come to the table. "He is that way, what can we do?" he added. -------------- "My flexibility is portrayed...as begging" -------------- ¶3. (C) Talat complained that the T/C press reported as fact allegations made in the G/C press, or worse, distorted things against him. He said, for example, that his "flexibility is portrayed in the north as begging to the Greek Cypriots and the international community." (Note: The two major news sources in the north, the "state" television BRT and the main circulation daily Kibris, both maintain a strong, pro-Eroglu editorial line. End Note) 4.(C) Responding to Talat's first question about Christofias unwillingness to engage, Ambassador said the Greek Cypriots assert that it was instead Talat who had suggesting taking a break in the run up to his elections. Talat was visibly annoyed and said that he had never told Christofias "to break off the talks", even though his own media had reported that he had. Rather, and in an effort to stop Christofias from breaking from the talks in January, Talat said he had informed Christofias that the election cycle in the north, which began on February 24, might require a delay, a position he later abandoned after pro-solution NGOs and businessmen told him to stay at the negotiating table as long as possible. He accused Christofias of "lying" about this in public statements, adding that his (Talat's) desire to hold at least eight meetings before the elections, versus the four the G/Cs had agreed to, was proof. -------------- - "Nobody Knows what will happen with elections" -------------- - ¶5. (C) Talat told the Ambassador that the present trend was "in his favor", but quickly added that "nobody knows what will happen." He said the present UN-brokered process "would be over," however, if the nationalist Eroglu, leading Talat NICOSIA 00000111 002 OF 002 by ten percent in the latest (January 2010) polls, were to be elected. -------------- More UN Involvement! -------------- ¶6. (C) Talat described Downer and the UN as "too careful" and needing to be "more involved" in response to the Ambassador's question regarding what Talat needed to bring the present process to a successful conclusion. The Ambassador noted the recent visit by UNSYG Ban Ki-moon and his op-ed in Cypriot papers, but Talat was not satisfied. The Ambassador said he would do whatever else he could do facilitate the peace process, included raising Talat's request of more UN involvement with UNSYG SA Downer. URBANCIC