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Roundup: Two Cypriot sides willing to do away with Cyprus problem: Cypriot President

Xinhua, September 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

The two communities of Cyprus are willing to do away with the long standing Cyprus problem, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said on Tuesday as reunification negotiations reached closer to their conclusion.

Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci have three more meetings before they conclude this most critical phase of their negotiations, which started 16 months ago.

"Given the will by both sides to reach a final conclusion in the sense of finding a solution...I consider that the results (of remaining meetings) will be of a decisive importance," Anastasiades said.

In the three remaining meetings the two leaders will tackle the most difficult issues, including security arrangements and abrogation of legacy guarantees giving unilateral intervention rights to Turkey, Greece and Britain.

Anastasiades said he and Akinci discussed on Tuesday issues relating to the economy and the application of European Union rules after a solution bringing the two parts of Cyprus under a federal state.

He said no major divergences were left on these issues but there are still some outstanding details to be gapped before an agreement could be concluded.

"I wish things would be as easy on other difficult issues we will be faced with," said Anastasiades when asked whether progress had been made.

He added that preparations are being made for a joint meeting of the two community leaders with the U.N. Secretary-General in New York, probably on September 26th.

But he said calling a multi-party conference to discuss security arrangements and troop withdrawal is quite a different issue.

"A multi-party conference without adequate progress in the negotiations and preparation could even wreck the whole negotiating process."

Turkey has suggested a five-party conference to reach decisions on security arrangements after a solution and the withdrawal of Turkish soldiers who occupied over one third of Cypriot territory in 1974, in reaction to a short-lived coup engineered by the military rulers of Greece at the time.

Anastasiades said that such things should be discussed at a wider conference in which other parties would be invited to take part, including Cyprus as a state recognized by the international community and preferably the European Union, of which Cyprus is a member. Enditem.