Talks were ‘long and lively’

A long and lively discussion on governance and the division of powers was held this afternoon between the leaders of the two communities in Cyprus part of the ongoing talks on the Cyprus problem, as the UN Special Representative in Cyprus, Alexander Downer reported.

He said the discussion would continue on Thursday morning and that afterwards the meetings would follow the schedule whereby the leaders will be more or less meeting every Monday up until the middle of January.

“This may vary from time to time”, he said “depending on the circumstances, but this is the intention at this stage”.

Mr Downer added that further talks would take place with both sides during the week touching on issues that were raised today as well as other questions that the two leaders had in relation to the talks.

Moreover, he said that the two leaders had jointly invited him and Lisa Buttenheim to a dinner in Pyla on 5 January, which he warmly accepted on behalf of the UN and was looking forward to it.

Turkish daily Zaman reports that Turkey’s Chief Negotiator for EU affairs, State Minister Egemen Bagis, warned that the Turkish Cypriot state in the north of the island could be internationally recognized as an independent state if the Greek Cypriots continue to drag their feet in negotiations for a settlement on the island.

“Turkey has a certain amount of leverage. There are countries waiting for a signal to recognize the TRNC, to initiate diplomatic relations with it”, he said.“If the Greek Cypriots really want a solution, they should make good use of the coming six-month period; otherwise they will regret it”, he added.

Turkey has offered to bow to EU demands and open its ports, airports and airspace to Cyprus under what it called a "Taiwanese-style" diplomatic arrangement to help drive Cypriot reunification talks resuming on Monday under U.N. pressure for a breakthrough, the Cyprus Mail reports quoting Reuters.

Turkish EU Minister Egemen Bagis told Reuters he believed that the simple arrangement would help free up talks over Cyprus and would not require recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus but would merely reflect a trade relationship. He said Turkey will open all of her airports, sea ports and airspace to Greek Cypriot planes and vessels as soon as a British Airways, an Air France, a KLM or a Lufthansa airplane lands at the Ercan airport in northern Cyprus.