ANNAN’S PROVISIONS AND SUCCESS

Some find the government’s political will and statements on negotiations and agreements as wrong and some claim that Turkey’s recent movement endangers its future. This move by Turkey turned the parties towards the negotiation table. Now it’s difficult for the parties to say ‘I don’t accept Annan’s provisions and wont negotiate.’ Some also claim that Annan’s provisions would make it difficult to negotiate. I think that the provisions would make the solution easier for both sides. The reason is that the provisions by Annan facilitate agreement instead of disagreement. Annan’s provisions make negotiations more fruitful and encourage compromise.

If the provisions are accepted and parties sit on the negotiation table, they will know how much time they will have: The negotiations should begin in mid February and last until the end of March; parties will have 45 days to reach a solution. At the end of these 45 days, issues on which agreement is reached will be added to the plan and issues on which no agreement is reached will be filled by Annan. Parties could guess what Annan will add to fill in the blanks but they won’t prefer estimation and would strive for a negotiation to prevent any gaps in the plan. Thus, the issue will become definite by their will. Parties won’t risk further demands and will reach an agreement. Annan’s provisions say that parties should either agree within a certain period or accept what Annan adds to the plan. Thus, we can expect that parties would agree on more issues in 45 days than they did within 45 years.

Today, what could be a success in Cyprus? I think success would be a referendum resulting in a positive way after Annan’s recent initiative.“