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Cypriot President says Cyprus solution this year ambitious target but not unfeasible

Xinhua, September 26, 2016 Adjust font size:

A solution to the Cyprus problem this year is an ambitious target but not an unfeasible one, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said in a statement on Sunday carried by state television.

In remarks to Cypriot and Greek journalists in New York after a joint meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, Anastasiades said that intensive negotiations will continue soon after they return in Cyprus with a view of clinching an agreement in 2016.

"We'll work tirelessly for a just and a lasting solution that will meet the expectations of all Cypriots," Anastasiades said.

Ban said after meeting Anastasiades and Akinci for 90 minutes at the U.N. Headquarters that the period ahead will be crucial for the outcome of efforts to solve the four-decade old Cyprus problem, the second longest problem on the U.N. agenda.

Anastasiades and Akinci have been negotiating for 16 months with the aim of restoring the unity of Cyprus, which was split along ethnic lines after Turkish troops occupied the islands northern part in 1974, in reaction to a coup by the military rulers of Greece.

Ban said the two leaders asked him to step up his personal engagement in the negotiating process, adding that he stands ready to support them, including tackling the international dimensions of the issue.

These include removing of about 40,000 Turkish soldiers from Cyprus and terminating international guarantees dating back to the island's independence from British colonial rule in 1960.

Anastasiades has said that there can be no solution with either Turkish troops on Cyprus or Turkish guarantee of the status quo on the island. Endit