Friday 21 March 2008

1. Christofias - Talat meeting

Dimitris Christofias and Mehmet Ali Talat today agreed to resume talks on the Cyprus problem and to open Ledra Street.

Michael Moller, the UN SG's Special Representative in Cyprus said he was pleased to announce that "the leaders met today in a very positive and cordial atmosphere and exchanged views on a number of issues, achieving a great degree of convergence".

Reading out a prepared statement, he said that the two leaders had "decided to ask their respective advisers to meet this coming week in order to set up a number of working groups and technical committees, establish their agendas, and to do so in the most expeditious way possible".

The statement went on: "In taking full responsibility for the conduct of future negotiations, the leaders have also agreed to meet three months from now to review the work of the working groups and technical committees, and using their results, to start full-fledged negotiations under the auspices of the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The leaders have also agreed to meet as and when needed prior to the commencement of their formal negotiations".

They agreed that Ledra Street will, as soon as technically possible, open and function in accordance with the established practices at other crossings. "The issue of the opening of the Limnitis crossing and other crossings is also on the agenda for the coming meetings of their advisers”, the statement adds.

The meeting, which was held at Mr Moller's house, lasted in all about 3 hours and included a private meeting between the two men followed by a broader meeting in the presence of Mr Moller and the two sides' advisors.

Asked by a Turkish Cypriot journalist afterwards what kind of coffee they had, Mr Christofias replied it was Cypriot coffee. When pressed to say if it was sweet or not, he said metrio.
Replying to questions Mr Talat said that that a new era had begun for Cyprus and their aim was to start working towards finding a comprehensive solution of the Cyprus problem. Talat said the T/C position is well known, that they would like a solution to be reached by the end of 2008. Asked what points they had disagreed on, Talat said they had not touched upon the parameters of the Cyprus problem but had mainly concentrated on procedural issues. Mr Christofias stressed that he wanted to underline what they had agreed on, not what they had disagreed on. He added that they were friends and would not become enemies.

The BBC's correspondent in Cyprus, Tabitha Morgan, reported that the body language of the two leaders when they emerged from their meeting was positive. She said there was a warmth between them that didn't exist between Mr Talat and Christofias' predecessor, Mr Papadopoulos.

2. British High Commissioner
The British High Commissioner to Cyprus, Peter Millett said yesterday that he believes the gap between the two communities in Cyprus is not too great. "The views and approaches of the two communities are a little different, the climate is a little different, but the gap between the two is not so large that bridges cannot be built towards an agreement for a new procedure", he said. Mr Millett, who was speaking after a meeting with Disy leader Nicos Anastasiades said Britain wanted to play a positive role and support a new procedure for a solution. But he stressed that the international community does not want to impose a solution. The solution should come from the two communities, he said.

3. Talat - Anastasiades
Alithia reports that Disy leader Nicos Anastasiades announced yesterday that he has invited Mr Talat to dinner at his house on 8 April in return for a similar invitation he had received from Mr Talat a while ago. Stressing the importance of contacts between the two communities on both a political and a social level were very important, he said that on the same day meetings had also been arranged between Disy and the Republican Turkish party.