Roundup; Cypriot community leaders report big progress in reunification negotiations

The leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities of Cyprus continued their reunification negotiations on Friday, allaying anxiety that the abortive coup in Turkey last week would scuttle a year-long effort to reach an agreement on the issue.

After a three-hour meeting on governance, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci reported important progress on the issues of the legislative and the judiciary and some progress on the executive.

"I can say that we almost completed agreement on the legislative and the judiciary but there is still disagreement on a demand by the Turkish Cypriot side for a rotating presidency," said Anastasiades.

Akinci also stated that though progress was made on the executive power, there are still open issues on the rotating presidency.

The negotiations aimed at reunifying Cyprus under a federal system. The eastern Mediterranean island has been partitioned since 1974 after Turkey occupied its northern part, reacting to a coup engineered by the military rulers of Greece at the time.

There was concern after the start of the attempted coup in Turkey on July 15 that developments would impact the Cyprus negotiations.

Both the United Nations that broker the talks and the community leaders said the failure of the coup helped put the negotiating process back on track.

However, sources said that both President Anastasiades and Mustafa Akinci share worries that unforeseen developments in Turkey could impact their negotiations.

The sources said that the uncertainty put additional pressure on the two leaders to proceed speedily with their negotiations.

Anastasiades said that the coup issue was discussed at a private meeting with Akinci before the United Nations delegates joined them for the discussion of the regular agenda.

They did not say what was said at the meeting, but he stated that the recent developments in Turkey do not seem to affect the Cyprus talks for the time being.

However, Anastasiades has repeatedly stated after the coup that developments in Turkey have added more credibility to his case that the presence of Turkish troops in Cyprus and guarantee rights held by Turkey, Greece and Britain are a source of danger and must come to an end.

Turkey keeps 43,000 troops in the occupied part of Cyprus, which the island's government says are a constant source of worry and uncertainty.

Anastasiades said the issue of security and territorial adjustments which include the withdrawal of occupation troops and the guarantees issue will come up for the first discussion in general terms at a meeting on July 29. Endit