Eroglu’s advisor says the Cyprus negotiations are not going well

Turkish Cypriot daily Haberdar (24.08.11) reports that Ergun Olgun, member of Turkish Cypriot leader Eroglu’s Advisory Committee and the Turkish Cypriot negotiating team during the discussions of the Annan Plan, has said that the Cyprus negotiations “are not going well”. In statements yesterday to Haberdar, Olgun alleged that the Greek Cypriots want to possess all the resources of the island, do not behave as a partner and while they say that they accept the political equality they unilaterally launched explorations for oil and natural gas. “How could we be hopeful in these conditions”, he argued.

Olgun claimed that the island of Cyprus and the sea around it has two owners and argued that an agreement should be reached as to how this property will be shared. “The behavior of the Greek Cypriot side as if this wealth belongs to them is illegal”, he alleged.

Olgun argued that the priority of the Turkish Cypriot side and Turkey now is to take a result from the negotiations and that is why “they have not shown a hard reaction” against the Republic of Cyprus’s efforts as regards the island’s resources.

Commenting on the “Swiss Model”, which has been brought on to the agenda recently by Eroglu’s representative Kudret Ozersay, Olgun said that this concerns sovereignty and added that various models have been brought onto the agenda during the negotiations. He noted that we could hold up as example or be inspired by other cases in the world. Olgun assessed also the Taiwan and Belgian models.

According to Olgun, the founding states in the Swiss model are sovereign to the extent that their sovereignty is not limited by the federal constitution and use all the rights which are not left to the federal government. He said that a federal partnership has a single international representation and sovereignty.

Olgun noted that the Taiwan Model is very different than the Swiss Model and added that this model concerns the way in which the “TRNC”, breakaway regime in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus, will hold its commercial, social and cultural relations in case a solution is not reached on the island.

Referring to the Belgian Model, Olgun noted that federal representatives represent the partnership in the EU and added that this representation comes up after reconciliation between the two sides. However, he said, the representatives of the founding states take over and negotiate on specific issues