Roundup: Cypriot leaders complete preparations for crucial negotiations

The leaders of the estranged Greek and Turkish communities of Cyprus have completed preparations for what is expected to be the final stage of negotiations in Geneva next week for the reunification of the eastern Mediterranean island, officials said on Thursday.

A government spokesman said Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, who also acts as leader of the Greek Cypriots, briefed parliamentary party leaders at a three-hour meeting, ahead of negotiations which start on Monday.

The negotiations aim to turn the unitary Cypriot state into a federal one.

Anastasiades faced hostile questioning from center parliamentary parties on his handling of the negotiations, but he secured the support of the two biggest parties, right-wing DISY and left-wing AKEL.

Semantics are an important part of the ongoing Cyprus problem, which has spanned more than four decades, despite numerous rounds of negotiations to solve it.

A Turkish Cypriot official said community leader Mustafa Akinci had briefed his community's parties and was Turkey-bound for a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, ahead of the Geneva talks.

The negotiations between Anastasiades and Akinci, scheduled to last three days, will culminate in an international conference on security arrangements after a solution on Jan. 12, with the participation the three guarantor countries of Cyprus's independence: Greece, Turkey and Britain.

Turkey, which occupied the northern part of Cyprus in 1974 in response to a coup by the military rulers of Greece at the time, has insisted on keeping troops on Cyprus and retaining guarantee rights after a solution is found.

The Greek Cypriot side has drawn a red line stating there cannot be a solution with Turkish troops and guarantees after a solution, but could possibly accept a transitional period for occupation troops to be phased out.

UN officials have been engaged in a flurry of talks this week with all parties involved.

The Geneva Conference is expected to be attended by the new UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who will be joined on Jan. 12 by Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

Guterres has already invited the European Union (EU) and all Security Council members to be at hand in Geneva.

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini was reported by Cypriot media to have set up a team of experts to give their opinions on arrangements that would affect the status of Cyprus as an EU member state. Endit