Roundup: Cypriot community leaders fly for Switzerland negotiations

The leaders of Cyprus' Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities flew to Switzerland on Saturday for what is expected to be a crucial round of negotiations leading to the reunification of Cyprus and the re-integration of Turkish Cypriots who have been living in isolation for over four decades.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci will sit at the negotiating table on Sunday at Mont Pelerin in the presence of a United Nations emissary to conclude unfinished work from a previous round of negotiations on territorial issue a week ago.

Anastasiades left for Mont Pelerin after he briefed all Greek Cypriot party leaders and former presidents ahead of the negotiations that is set to last from Sunday to Monday, securing the support of the two main parties commanding a majority in Parliament -- governing DISY and opposition left wing AKEL.

He said before flying out that he could not say what the outcome would be until the talks end on Monday, but he vowed that he would do his utmost for a successful conclusion.

"The President told me that he is almost certain that an overall agreement will be reached when the negotiations will be concluded on Monday. There are still outstanding issues but there is an intense desire by both sides to find an agreement to a problem that is around for over four decades," said ex-President George Vassiliou after meeting Anastasiades.

The two community leaders have to reconcile their last differences on territorial adjustments and mark on maps their respective positions on areas where Greek Cypriots displaced 42 years ago by Turkish troops will return.

Turkish troops occupied 37.5 percent of Cypriot territory in 1974, in a military action spurred by a short-lived coup of the military rulers of Greece.

If the two sides have agreed on the territory issue they are expected to schedule a multi-party conference to mostly deal with security arrangements after a solution.

But there is a difference in the approach of the two sides on the mandate of such a conference.

Turkey and Turkish Cypriots want a five-party conference of Greek and Turkish Cypriots, and the three 1960 guarantor powers -- Turkey, Greece and Britain -- to decide on security and resolve all other issues which may still be pending.

Greece and Greek Cypriots want all other issues to be settled before a wider conference is called to also include the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus as an interested party, and possibly all five United Nations Security Council permanent members plus the European Union to discuss only security arrangements.

Greece and Turkey have already started a dialogue on security. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced that he talked over telephone with Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday and that they agreed to talk again.

The United Nations which have been brokering the negotiations for 42 years has said that it is already working on the practicalities of the implementation of a solution, in the firm belief that it will soon be able to strike the Cyprus problem off its list of outstanding international issues.

In Cyprus, too, there is a general sense that a settlement is now within reach. But in view of past disappointments, even the most ardent supporters of a solution are reserved.

"We'll hail a solution when one will be officially announced. The devil is always in the details," ex-President Vassiliou cautioned. Endit