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UN urges not to lose momentum of Cyprus peace talks

Xinhua, November 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

The UN secretary-general's special adviser on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, on Monday met separately with the leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities, and urged them not to lose momentum of the UN-brokered peace talks, a UN spokesman told reporters here.

Speaking to the media after his meetings, Eide said that both leaders had expressed a continued desire to find a way to solve the Cyprus problem, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here.

He noted that the leaders'second meeting earlier this month in Mont Pelerin, Switzerland, had been a setback to a process and that there was a need to find a way to overcome it.

"Mr. Eide said that the United Nations would try to help develop ideas, but that it was up to the leaders to make the decision to return to the table and to orchestrate the coming weeks in order not to lose the momentum of the talks," Dujarric said.

Last Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon encouraged the Turkish Cypriot leader and the Greek Cypriot leader to overcome hurdles in the Cyprus peace talks to "do their utmost" in order to reach a settlement in 2016.

The talks that took place between the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akinci, and the Greek Cypriot leader, Nicos Anastasiades, in Mont Pelerin, Switzerland, on Nov. 7-11 and Nov. 20-21.

The United Nations which brokers the reunification negotiations announced in the early hours of last Tuesday that the leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities had failed to achieve the necessary convergences on criteria for territorial adjustments that would have paved the way for the last phase of the talks.

Cyprus was divided in 1974 when Turkey occupied its northern part, in reaction to a coup by the military rulers of Greece, and moved Turkish Cypriots from all over the island into the enclave controlled by Turkish troops.

The leaders of both the Greek and Turkish communities of Cyprus have said that after four decades of negotiations they are close to a solution by the end of this year, provided they can overcome difficulties in agreeing on security arrangements and the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cyprus. Enditem