Roundup: Politicians, int'l diplomats gather in Geneva for talks on Cyprus issue

After a week of intense diplomatic activity in Nicosia, Athens, Ankara, London, Brussels and New York, politicians and international diplomats started gathering in Geneva on Sunday for talks aiming to strike a deal on the solution of the Cyprus issue.

The Geneva talks which will be presided over by the United Nations have been convened to culminate 21 months of negotiations between Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci.

For the first time they have made unprecedented progress in bridging many of the differences dividing Greek and Turkish Cypriots, leading the United Nations to declare that an agreement was within reach.

But negotiations in Switzerland in November, which were expected to end with an agreement, revealed deep rooted notions that have dissipated most of the optimism.

The two sides are still divided on two main issues- territorial adjustments along with the restoration of properties and security arrangements after a solution.

Turkey occupied in 1974 the northern part of Cyprus amounting to about 37 percent of the island, and at the same time forced out of their homes and properties 170,000 Greek Cypriots. It said it used guarantee rights in response to a coup by then the military rulers of Greece threatening the status quo.

Territory and properties will be discussed between Anastasiades and Akinci in meetings between Jan. 9 and 11 that will peak with the exchange of maps on which each side will mark its demands.

The security issue will be taken up at an international conference on Jan. 12.

Anastasiades and Akinci agreed that this conference, to be presided over by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, will be attended by the two Cypriot communities and the governments of the three countries which were given guarantor rights when Cyprus became independent in 1960 -- Greece, Turkey and Britain -- other parties could be invited at the conference "as needed."

The views of the two sides on the conference and on security are wide apart.

The Turkish side has been insisting that no other parties are needed to be present at the conference, whereas the Greek side says that the Republic of Cyprus must be present as the most interested party, and also the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and the European Union to make sure that arrangements are in line with EU law and custom.

Turkey is also insisting on keeping an unspecified number of Turkish troops in Cyprus after a solution and retain guarantee rights which would give Turkey a right to intervene "to protect the Turkish Cypriots."

But the Greeks say that an agreement which would leave Turkish soldiers on Cypriot soil and give Turkey guarantee rights as before does not stand any chance to be approved in a referendum.

The UN has been trying in back-stage consultations to help strike a compromise. Endit