Off the wire
• China investigates alleged kindergarten abuses, teacher suspended  • 1st LD-Writethru: Xi meets Henry Kissinger, discusses China-U.S. ties  • Zimbabwe parks officials capture rogue lions in Kariba town  • Nepalese president congratulates new Thai king  • Nearly 80,000 flee Iraq's Mosul as fighting rages: IOM  • China deploys female peacekeepers in South Sudan  • China to promote development of industrial design: vice premier  • IE Singapore signs tripartite deal to help Singapore companies' entry into China  • Ethiopian Airlines to commence four weekly flights to Victoria Falls  • Migrant sea arrivals in Europe top 350,000 mark: IOM  
You are here: 　 Home

1st LD Writethru: Cypriot leaders agree to resume reunification negotiations

Xinhua, December 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

The leaders of Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities agreed to resume their stalled negotiations for reunifying the eastern Mediterranean island and drew a roadmap putting off their conclusion from the end of this month to mid-January, the United Nations said on Friday.

A UN statement after a four-hour long dinner hosted by the UN Secretary-General's Special Adviser Espen Barth Eide said the leaders will meet from Jan. 9 to 11 in Geneva to exchange maps on territorial adjustments.

Their meetings will be followed by a conference on Jan. 12 with the guarantor powers -- Britain, Greece and Turkey -- to agree security arrangements.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci had failed to reach an agreement during negotiations in the Swiss resort of Mont Pelerin two weeks ago on the amount of territory each of the two communities will control in a federal state and the number of displaced people who will return to their homes.

The negotiations aim at bringing down the territory under Turkish Cypriot control closer to their population ratio, allowing part of the 170,000 Greek Cypriots displaced in 1974 to return to their cities and villages.

A contentious point in the negotiations related to the timing of an agreement for territorial adjustments relative to convening a conference to discuss security arrangements.

The Turkish Cypriot side insisted on a conference of the three guarantor powers and the two Cypriot sides to agree on all outstanding issues, including security and maintaining some kind of guarantees after a solution.

The Greek Cypriot side insisted on convening a wider conference with the participation of the Cyprus Republic and the permanent members of the UN Security Council after all other issues would have been agreed upon. It also opposed any guarantee rights that would give Turkey intervention rights.

On that point, the UN statement said that the two sides will exchange maps on Jan. 11 and "a conference on Cyprus will be convened with the added participation of the guarantor powers. Other relevant parties shall be invited as needed." Endit