UN Special Advisor on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, spoke with President Nicos Anastasiades for an hour on Monday morning in his first face-to-face meeting with the Cypriot President since the Swiss-based failed territorial talks earlier this month.
Eide told Sigma’s journalist outside the Presidential Palace, following his talks with Anastasiades, that the failed Mont Pelerin talks were a “setback, because we could not achieve everything that we expected to achieve.”
Eide clarified that no new issues were discussed during his meeting, and that “there are no issues that can’t be solved between the two sides.”
After his talks with Anastasiades, Eide visited the occupied areas for similar discussions with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci.
BACKGROUND
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and illegally occupied its northern third.
Anastasiades and Akinci have been engaged in UN-led talks since May 2015, with a view to reuniting the island under a federal roof.
Both leaders held talks on the crucial territorial issue in Mont Pelerin, Switzerland from November 7 to 11 and again from November 20-21 but failed to come to an agreement.
Once Anastasiades and Akinci agree on territory, next on the negotiating table will be the crucial securities and guarantees issues – both which Akinci wants to tie with the territorial talks.
If a final agreement is reached it will be put to both communities in a referendum. A 2004 peace deal, the ‘Annan Plan’, was approved by Turkish Cypriots but overwhelmingly rejected by Greek Cypriots.
Source: SigmaLive Greek
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