Gaps can be bridged

There is potential to fill the gaps between the two sides in the current talks, President Christofias said yesterday after meeting Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat. He added that their meeting had been “good without generating feelings of euphoria”. “We still have both convergences and divergences on the table, that is why we are saying that we have to intensify our work,” he said. Asked whether they will ask for the help of EU technocrats in case there are differences in the views of experts, he said the EU was interested but said it was up to the two sides to solve any problems.

The UN Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus, Taye Brook Zerihoun, said that during the two hour meeting the two men discussions EU matters on the basis of the work done by the experts last week and this week. “It’s been a good discussion. As you know the EU matters was one of the issues on which there has been quite a lot of convergence and on which there was a joint paper that came out through the working groups. So the discussion was thorough and substantive and it is an engaged process,” said Zeirhoun.He added that they would possibly move on to economic matters. He said the leaders had agreed to meet again next Tuesday to continue these discussions, preceded by two back to back meetings of aides today and of the representatives and the experts tomorrow.

Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat on his part described the meeting as “productive” and said that a clearer picture would emerge on the issue in the coming days following work carried out by technical experts. Pointing out that there were many technical aspects to the issue of EU matters, he said that they had agreed to leave the details to the technical and legal experts. "We on the other hand will continue to try and iron out existing differences" he added. "My expectation is that there won’t be too many differences remaining at the end of the process". He said both sides will be presenting their positions at next week’s meeting.

Replying to a question on whether progress had been achieved on EU matters, he echoed Christofias in saying that there were convergences in some areas but refrained from going into any details. "We haven’t discussed any details but instead focused on general issues. We have left the details to the experts" he said.

Commenting on Greek Cypriot press reports that the Turkish Cypriot side’s proposals on power sharing and governance led to the creation of a confederation, Talat said: "We are seeking a solution within UN parameters. We want a bi-communal, bi-zonal, federal settlement on the basis of two constituent states with political equality. This is known as a federation, not a confederation".