Leaders commit to reach Cyprus solution as soon as possible

The leaders of the two communities, Nicos Anastasiades and  Dervis Eroglu, at a meeting yesterday agreed to conclude the current phase of UN-led negotiations for a comprehensive Cyprus solution as soon as possible.

The UN Secretary General’s Special Representative in Cyprus Ms Lisa Buttenheim in a statement afterwards said that the meeting took place in a constructive and cordial atmosphere and the leaders agreed to submit and to continue submitting proposals on all core issues, as well as to conclude this phase as soon as possible. They also discussed the issue of revitalizing the technical committees and possible confidence building measures as well as other substantive issues, related to different chapters.

They also agreed to meet twice a month, with the next meetings taking place on June 23 and July 7.

Earlier Bayrak television reported that the negotiators Kudret Ozersay and Andreas Mavroyannis met on Thursday for a three hour meeting in preparation for the leaders’ meeting.

In a statement to the press afterwards Ozersay said that they had discussed external relations and the federal executive of a future reunified Cyprus.

“How the federal executive is going to be elected, how decisions will be made, how the council of ministers will be, are the kind of issues discussed during today’s meeting,” Ozersay said. He added that the Turkish Cypriot side had put forward a proposal on this issue and that the Greek Cypriot side expressed its views regarding these proposals and asked related questions.

He also said that they held extensive discussions on external relations as well as on the property issue. He said the Turkish Cypriot side had presented proposals on property and the federal executive, while the Greek Cypriot side submitted documents on federal legislative powers.

Ozersay said he will be flying to London in June where he will meet with British EU Minister David Liddington on 9 June and that a similar invitation had been sent to his counterpart, Andreas Mavroyannis. Ozersay said that from now on, not only will they be meeting with Liddington but with other officials as well, therefore this meeting is very important.

Moreover, Politis reports that Mr Anastasiades made clear to Mr Eroglu that there would be no give-and-take in the negotiations unless the he puts all his cards down on the table on the issues of territory and property so that points of convergence can be found.