Roundup: Agreement on territorial issue "within reach" of Cypriot community leaders

Cyprus's community leaders have come close to an agreement on territorial issue which will pave the way to a comprehensive agreement,the government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said on Saturday.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci decided to take a week's recess for consultations after completing five days of UN-led sustained negotiations in Mont Pelerin, Switzerland that focused on territorial adjustments.

"We consider that an agreement on territorial issue is within reach," Christodoulides said in remarks reported by state radio.

He said President Anastasiades requested the recess to consult with Cypriot party leaders and also brief Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

Anastasiades and Akinci will meet again in Geneva on Nov. 20 for yet another round or sustained negotiations expected to last up to three days, in the presence of Espen Barth Eide, UN special adviser on Cyprus.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey sent troops that occupied 37.5 percent of the island's territory in reaction to a short-lived coup engineered by the military rulers of Greece at the time.

Territorial adjustments that will bring down the territory under Turkish Cypriot control closer to their population ratio of 22 percent and allow the maximum possible number of displaced people to return to their cities and villages were exhaustively discussed at Mont Pelerin.

It was the first time in almost 40 years of Cyprus negotiations that the territorial issue was discussed directly.

"There has been a remarkable progress that allows us to be optimistic," Christodoulides said.

He said that despite progress, there are still issues that need to be discussed further or in more depth. Endit