UN Secretary General Special Adviser Espen Barth Eide has said that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Turkish President will discuss the security and guarantees issue of the Cyprus problem in the coming weeks.
During an interview with Greek state television ERT on Friday, Eide said that he discussed with Tsipras a way to find a compromise or a transitional arrangement the security issue.
He added that he hopes to discuss the same issue in Ankara, in order to move forward with a new system, “which does not depend on the current setup.”
TSIPRAS-ERDOGAN TO DISCUSS GUARANTEE ISSUE
On a meeting between Erdogan and Tsipras, Eide said that the Greek Prime Minister is committed to the meeting.
“My understanding is that it is important for Greece to meet with Turkey at the highest level to start this discussion and to see how they can start building bridges,” Eide said.
He added that Tsipras and Erdogan are not expected to conclude the discussion on the security issue, “because the final conclusion to this discussion hast to happen at the international conference, because for Cyprus the security question is one of many questions.”
PROPOSED MODELS
Eide has said that there have been constructive attempts made to find models for the guarantees issue.
“Foreign Minister Kotzias has proposed a packet of friendship and cooperation between the future united Cyprus, Greece, and Turkey, with some kind of military dimensions to it, to substitute the current arrangement,” he added.
Eide said that there are also some ideas of having a significant reduction of Turkish troops, which will continue for a while, until Ankara’s military presence is phase out.
He added that the conditions and timeframe of a phasing out troops would need to be discussed.
Earlier, Eide met with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias to discuss the security and guarantees issue.
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