Roundup: Turkish side takes new stance on guarantees but not far enough: Cypriot president

The Turkish side is altering its position regarding the 1960 system of guarantees that is blocking a Cyprus solution, but it does not go far enough to meet Greek Cypriot concerns, Cyprus's President Nicos Anastasiades said on Friday.

"I heard something (which is) different from the guarantees of 1960, but that does not mean that we agree with it," Anastasiades said after yet another brainstorming meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci in their quest for a solution reuniting the divided island.

Turkey used guarantee rights it obtained when Cyprus became independent in 1960 to mount a military operation in 1974, which resulted in the occupation of more than one third of Cyprus' territory and the displacement of over 170,000 Greek Cypriots from their homes.

The other two guarantor powers, Greece and former colonial power Britain, are willing to abrogate the treaty of guarantees, which is part of the treaties establishing the Cyprus Republic.

Greece has lined up with Anastasiades who says there cannot be a solution with the guarantees of 1960 in place and Britain has said it was ready to adopt whatever the other parties would agree on.

Anastasiades announced that he and Akinci agreed Friday to insert yet another meeting to the list of seven brainstorming sessions they have scheduled until Sept. 14, to continue exchanging views "so as to go deeper into our discussions."

Turkey's foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said during a brief visit to the occupied part of Cyprus on Wednesday that the issue of security, along with territorial adjustments and the withdrawal of troops from Cyprus should be solved at a conference of the three guarantor powers and the two communities.

The United Nations, which preside over the negotiations, have been reported to be preparing a three-way meeting of the two Cypriot leaders with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in September in a bid calculated to put the seal of agreement on convergences reached so far in the negotiations.

Anastasiades said he was not opposed to a three-way meeting in New York after the end of the UN General Assembly but said this would only be meaningful if enough progress will have been made by the middle of September.

He was reported to have come out disappointed from a meeting on Wednesday when no further progress was made on the issue of returning Greek Cypriot properties taken over by Turkish Cypriots and mainland Turkey settlers. Endit