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UN official says still possible to restart stalled peace negotiations in Cyprus

Xinhua, March 4, 2017 Adjust font size:

It is possible to restart the stalled peace negotiations in Cyprus though "trust is not at its best moment" and has to be restored, a United Nations official said Friday.

"I had seen nothing over the past week from the leaders to suggest it was not possible to overcome the impasse," said UN Secretary-General's special adviser on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, after meeting with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades.

"It doesn't mean you can walk into the room the next morning as certain things would have to be settled first," he added.

After 22 months of negotiations which led to unprecedented progress towards ending the 4-decade old division of Cyprus, the talks stalled in mid-February after a controversial decision by Cyprus's all-Greek parliament to commemorate a 1950 referendum in which Greek Cypriots voted their wish to unite Cyprus with Greece.

Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci refused to attend meetings until parliament "corrected" its decision, claiming that the Greek Cypriot drive for "enosis(union)" with Greece was at the root of the division of Cyprus.

"We must not allow the sustained progress over 22 months to be destroyed by what is essentially an issue outside of the talks themselves," said Eide.

He said he discussed some ideas with Anastasiades to overcome the obstacles and go back to the negotiations, also raising the possibility of using a new methodology when the negotiations restart.

Eide added that he will share these ideas when he meets Akinci on Saturday with a view of convincing him to rejoin the negotiations.

"My strong sense is that the will is there... the will by the leaders to go the extra mile," he said.

But he also warned that there are elements in both communities that do not want a solution and will again try to derail the process.

Cyprus was partitioned in a 1974 military operation by Turkey which sent its troops to Cyprus in response to a coup by the military rulers of Greece at the time. Endit