Özdil Nami, the new Turkish Cypriot peace negotiator
Özdil Nami was this week announced as the newly elected Turkish Cypriot president’s chief negotiator in the Cyprus peace talks.
Mr Nami, who will vacate the Turkish Cypriot foreign ministry, takes up his new role immediately.
Speaking shortly after his appointment was announced he said that President Mustafa Akıncı had entrusted this new role to him.
“Offices have no importance. What is important is the duty that comes with it. When the offer came I consulted the prime minister. His evaluation on this subject was positive and he wished me luck. We took this decision today.”
Mr Nami said that it was a matter for his Republican Turkish Party (CTP) to decide who would succeed him as Turkish Cypriot foreign minister.
He said that his support for Mr Akıncı in last month’s presidential election second round run-off did not come with any conditions and that his appointment was entirely the decision of the president.
He accompanied the Turkish Cypriot president on his trip to Ankara this week. Of his negotiating team, Mr Nami said: “there are some very valuable colleagues in the negotiating team. I intend to benefit both from them and from new colleagues.”
Former chief negotiator Kudret Özersay, who ran for president this year
Mr Nami made headlines last year when he attacked Kudret Özersay, then the Turkish Cypriot chief negotiator, for failing to keep him updated on peace talks.
“We are trying to give him every kind of support, but I am sorry to say that if one’s own Special Representative has still not stepped through the doors of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this is a grave flaw,” Mr Nami said last October.
He had continued: “The government is not an NGO that can be manipulated. There is a parliamentary system in the north, not a presidential one, and in such a critical time consultations with us should be very intensive.
“There should be daily consultations [with us].”
Mr Özersay subsequently stepped down from his chief negotiator role and ran for the Turkish Cypriot presidency. He came fourth, but surprised observers by winning more than 21 percent of the vote and nearly overtaking CTP candidate Sibel Siber for third place.