Roundup: Talks underway, Cypriot leaders pledge to work for solution

Leaders of ethnically-divided Cyprus kick-started negotiations on Friday pledging to "work tirelessly" to settle the Cyprus problem which has not be resolved in over 41 years, a UN official said.

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci had their first working session at which they also agreed to personally take charge of the talks.

"They agreed to meet twice a month to review progress in negotiations between their representatives. Their next meeting will be on May 28," said the UN Secretary-General's special adviser Espen Barth Eide, after presiding over the unusually long meeting, which lasted almost four hours.

"The leaders began elaborating their shared vision for a united federal Cyprus," he added.

Anastasiades and Akinci met at a UN-controlled compound at the old Nicosia airport, defunct since the 1974 fighting.

It was during the 1974 conflict that Turkish troops, reacting to a short-lived coup engineered by officers of the army junta then ruling Greece, occupied the northern part of the Mediterranean island, dividing the Greek and Turkish Cypriot population.

Efforts to solve the Cyprus problem had until now failed.

Left-center Akinci swept to an electoral victory in April, promising to work hard for a Cyprus solution which would reunify Cyprus in a federal state that would continue to be a European Union member.

The UN and countries involved in peace efforts viewed Akinci's election to the leadership of the Turkish Cypriot community as a unique opportunity to solve the Cyprus problem.

"In the context of their joint commitment, the leaders instructed their negotiators to work on additional measures beneficial to both communities," said Eide.

During the talks, Anastasiades handed Akinci maps pinpointing 28 minefields laid during the 1974 fighting across a mountain range in the Turkish occupied part of Cyprus.

Akinci told Anastasiades that Greek Cypriots crossing into the northern part of Cyprus at several check points would be spared the trouble of obtaining a so-called entry visa. Visitors would now be allowed in by displaying their identity card.

Anastasiades said his meeting with Akinci was held "in a most positive climate."

"I am confident that working that way we can hope for quick progress," he added.

The UN envoy said the negotiators of the two sides had begun working on both outstanding core issues of the Cyprus problem and confidence-building measures and agreed to implement the measures immediately.

These included the modalities of power sharing in a federal state, territorial adjustments, and property rights of thousands of people displaced in the 1974 fighting.

"In the prevailing climate of optimism, and encouraged by the momentum that is building across the island, the two leaders underscored their shared will to reach a comprehensive settlement," Eide said. Endit