Iacovou: moving to property before year end

PRESIDENTIAL Commissioner George Iacovou said yesterday there was a good chance the property issue might enter the negotiations by the end of the year.

Iacovou met yesterday with Ozdil Nami, aide to Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, in the presence of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus Alexander Downer and the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Cyprus Taye Brook Zerihoun.

Iacovou and Nami decided yesterday to bypass the issue of executive power and begin discussions on legislative power.

Speaking after the meeting, Iacovou said the positions of the two sides regarding the issue of governance were being recorded.

The meeting lasted over two hours.

”We have three baskets containing what has been agreed, the issues on which there is good progress towards an agreement, and the tough issues,” Iacovou said.

“We are trying to explain to each other how we see the authorities of the central government but there is still a gap to be bridged.”

Iacovou said the two aides decided to bypass the issue of executive power, which they would go back to.

“From time to time, in connection with the issues, we will return to the issue of the authorities of the federal government. So it will be in the fridge for a while but not in the freezer,” he said.

Iacovou said there were a significant number of issues agreed on but there were also a number of “thorny issues”.

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