ANKARA
The establishment of a “United Cyprus Federation” has been on the agenda ever since negotiations resumed in May on the divided island, Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akinci has told various media outlets.
Akinci’s comments came at a meeting with foreign journalists after commemorations for the July 20 Peace and Freedom Day, which marks Turkey's 1974 intervention in Cyprus following a Greek coup. Since then, the island has been divided between the Greek Cypriot south and the Turkish Cypriot north.
“If negotiations continue at the current pace, a solution could be found within months,” Akinci reportedly said, according to Hurriyet Daily News on Thursday.
The Turkish daily reported that Akinci said all issues, except the current guarantor system, were being discussed, referring to the three guarantor powers holders of the island: Turkey, Greece and the United Kingdom.
The places and percentages of land to be shared between the two communities on the island have also been left out of the current stage of talks, Akinci said.
According to the plan outlined by the Turkish Cypriot leader, the proposed federation would consist of Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot states, each with its own citizenship laws.
Another Turkish daily disclosed certain details of the plan, in particular with regards to the structure of government.
The new federal state will have its own parliament, with a lower and a higher chamber. In addition, the Turkish and Greek Cypriot sides will each have their own sub national parliament. Both communities will be granted the right to reside on either side of the federation.
Turkish Cypriots who wish to reside in the Greek Cypriot side will be allowed to vote in local and European Parliament elections. However, they will not be permitted to vote for representation in the area, in which they live for federal elections because of a wide population gap between both sides of the island -- Greek Cypriots are four times more numerous than Turkish Cypriots.
As for the police forces of the proposed federal state, Akinci said the exact composition had yet to be established, but it would either be 50-50, or 40 percent Turkish Cypriot and 60 percent Greek Cypriot, reported Hurriyet Daily News.
There may not be a national army, Akinci said, adding that it was still being negotiated.
In the meantime, the two sides have agreed not to take any steps that could jeopardize the ongoing negotiations over the natural gas resources in eastern Mediterranean.
The Greek Cypriot administration had unilaterally suspended the talks last October after Turkey issued an advisory on behalf of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus for seismic research off the coast of Cyprus.
The name proposed in 2004 by the UN for a two-state federation that aimed to unify the two communities, in what was called the Annan Plan, was "United Republic of Cyprus". The proposal was revised five times before it was put to a referendum in April 2004 and was supported by 65 percent of Turkish Cypriots. However, only 24 percent of Greek Cypriots backed the plan, claiming that the proposal favored Turkish Cypriots, and the stalemate continued.
