Cypriot leaders report progress in first substantive negotiations

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci embarked on substantive negotiations on the Cyprus issue on Monday, reporting good progress on core issues.

"They discussed in a realistic and constructive fashion and focused on unresolved issues. They gave further instructions to their negotiators, who will meet three times this week," said United Nations emissary Espen Barth Eide, who brokered the negotiations.

The Cyprus problem proved too difficult to solve in numerous rounds of negotiations since Turkey controlled the northern part of the eastern Mediterranean island in 1974, acting in response to a coup engineered by Greek army officers.

Encouraging prospects for a solution emerged after Turkish Cypriots elected moderate politician Mustafa Akinci as their new leader in a vote in April.

Eide said Anastasiades and Akinci started what he called a cross-discussion on governance and power sharing, the properties issue and aspects of the territorial adjustment chapter.

"There has been further progress," said Eide as he was flanked by Anastasiades and Akinci.

He said the leaders have also talked about further confidence building measures and discussed the prospects resulting from a possible solution.

After the departure of the leaders, Eide told journalists that he was impressed by the way they and their teams negotiated.

"I was optimistic when I came to Cyprus but now I'm even more optimistic," added Eide, a former foreign minister of Norway.

Both Anastasiades and Akinci, in separate statements, acknowledged that they have made progress in their negotiations. Endit