Catch 22: Anastasiades or Cavusoglu?

When Kathimerini reported two months ago that a different framework for a solution was being considered critics were quick to rebuke the news.

Following Cavusoglu’s interview with Politis newspaper and his meeting with AKEL Secretary General Andros Kyprianou, it became apparent to Kyprianou that the phraseology of ''new ideas'' - which was also used in the recent UN Cyprus report-  was proof that new formulas were being considered by President Anastasiades, aguably setting aside a 44 year old position in favour of a bizonal bicommunal federation.

Be that as it may, the issue that is now remarkably at the forefront of public conversations in Cyprus is not how a solution based on a devolved federation would work or which actions to take to break the deadlock - but instead who suggested it first: Anastasiades or Cavusoglu?

Negotiations collapsed in July 2017 but a New York meeting between Anastasiades and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in September raised hopes for another round of talks, although the President has been vague in his attempt to de-codify his vision for a decentralized federation.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday Kyprianou said the President "is seeking another solution," "a solution that will have confederal elements and elements of two states." He also said that "discussing two states or discussing a confederation is not an unacceptable retreat, it is betrayal."

DIKO’s Nikolas Papadopoulos curiously echoed the above statement today. Speaking after his meeting with Kyprianou he stated that ''references to a two state solution is criminal.’’ 

It must be said clearly that these discussions have no substance other than to drive the domestic news cycle and to that end pave the way for party alliances with a view of the EU Parliamentary election in May 2019.

Kyprianou and Papadopoulos who disagree on many aspects of the Cyprus talks, such as rotating Presidency and in truth solution itself, stood side by side today to say that they agreed that a bi-zonal bi-communal federation is the only acceptable solution, announcing that they will also cooperate on social and economic affairs.

All three parties had the chance, while holding the Presidency, to project their vision of a unified Cyprus.

In psychology, there is marked difference, in evaluating behaviour, on the one hand focusing on the actions being taken and on the other choosing to evaluate mostly the results of those actions.

Anastasiades’s time will come, he’d better be ready, because history will knock on his door once more.

Note: Catch-22 signifies a dilemma or problematic situation from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions.