New Reunification Talks Begin

Four years after the Annan Plan referendums, the talks had barely moved. That changed with the Greek Cypriot presidential election of February 2008. The incumbent, Tassos Papadopoulos, who had led the campaign against the plan, was knocked out in the first round. On 24 February Demetris Christofias, leader of the left wing party AKEL, won the runoff with 53.36 per cent against Ioannis Kasoulides. On the Turkish Cypriot side, Mehmet Ali Talat, who had campaigned for the Annan Plan, had been president in the north since 2005.

On 21 March 2008 the two leaders met in Nicosia under UN auspices. They agreed to set up six working groups on the core issues: governance and power sharing, EU matters, security and guarantees, territory, property and economic affairs. Seven technical committees would deal with everyday problems caused by the division, from crime and health to cultural heritage and the environment. They also agreed to open a crossing at Ledra Street in the heart of old Nicosia, which had been blocked since the 1960s. It opened on 3 April 2008.

On 23 May the leaders confirmed their commitment to a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality, as defined in Security Council resolutions. It would have a federal government with a single international personality and two constituent states, one Greek Cypriot and one Turkish Cypriot, of equal status. In July they agreed in principle on a single sovereignty and citizenship, and former Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer was appointed as the UN Secretary General’s special adviser. Full negotiations were formally launched on 3 September 2008.

The hard questions remained. The sides disagreed over whether a united Cyprus would continue the existing Republic or be a new state, over whether displaced owners or current users should have the stronger claim to property, and over whether the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee should survive. Christofias accused Talat of seeking a confederation, which Talat denied.

Time worked against them. Talat’s party lost the northern parliamentary election of April 2009, and on 18 April 2010 he lost the presidency to Derviş Eroğlu, who had favoured a looser two state confederation but said the talks would continue.