11 February 2014
Anastasiades and Eroğlu Joint Declaration
The two Cypriot leaders agree a joint declaration setting out the basis for renewed talks: a federation with one sovereignty and political equality.
The talks between Demetris Christofias and Mehmet Ali Talat that began in 2008 ran into disputes over offshore oil and gas exploration, and were suspended in 2012. By then Derviş Eroğlu led the Turkish Cypriots, and in February 2013 Nicos Anastasiades was elected president of the Republic of Cyprus, shortly before a banking collapse that brought deep recession and high unemployment. Talks were expected to resume in October 2013, but agreeing the wording of a joint statement took until February 2014.
On 11 February 2014 the two leaders met at the UN offices in the buffer zone in Nicosia and agreed a joint declaration. It called the status quo unacceptable and said a settlement would benefit both communities and the wider region. The settlement would be a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality, made up of two constituent states of equal status within the European Union. A united Cyprus would have a single international legal personality, a single sovereignty and a single citizenship, alongside citizenship of each constituent state. Partition, secession and union with another country would be ruled out.
The declaration also set the rules of the process. All core issues would be discussed together, nothing would be agreed until everything was agreed, and there would be no arbitration. Any agreement would be put to separate, simultaneous referendums in the two communities. Both sides promised to avoid blaming each other and to pursue confidence building measures.
Greece, Turkey and the EU welcomed the declaration, and the United States took a more active interest than it had for some years. In the Greek Cypriot community the left wing party AKEL supported it, while the centrist DIKO argued that it conceded separate sovereignty to the Turkish Cypriots and left the governing coalition on 27 February. The chief negotiators, Andreas Mavroyiannis and Kudret Özersay, first met on 14 February and agreed to make visits to Athens and Ankara.
The momentum did not last. In October 2014 Anastasiades suspended his participation after Turkey sent a warship into waters where the Republic of Cyprus was exploring for offshore gas. Talks resumed only in May 2015, after Mustafa Akıncı replaced Eroğlu, and the 2014 declaration remained their foundation.