Leaders pledge to tackle ‘serious work’ that lies ahead (Update 3)

By George Psyllides
Serious work still lies ahead in the effort to reunify the island and to this end the leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities agreed on Monday to intensify the pace of the negotiations significantly after the end of the month
President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci met for around four hours on Monday as part of scheduled talks starting at 6pm.
They decided to continue over a late dinner at a restaurant inside the buffer zone at the invitation of Anastasiades.
The Cyprus News Agency said no statements would be made after the dinner.
The two leaders were accompanied by United Nations Special Adviser UN Special Adviser Espen Barth Eide and their respective negotiators, Andreas Mavoryiannis and Ozdil Nami.
Eide said the meeting was good and useful and that the leaders “deliberated on the outstanding issues in the negotiations”.
“Conscious of the need to build on the current momentum, they had a constructive exchange on remaining divergences and instructed the negotiators on the way forward,” he said.
Returning to the north briefly before going to the dinner, Akinci said disagreements remained over how each side understood bi-zonality.
“I have explained many times what I understand, there is no need to repeat. They also explained what they understand,” he said, adding that he could not say there was agreement on this now.
“The issue is for the disagreements to be removed so that we van reach a common result that can be approved by both sides. It’s not an easy procedure … but we will do all we can to reach a successful conclusion.”
The leaders, Eide said, recognised that serious work still lies ahead and reiterated their commitment to significantly intensify the pace of the negotiations following their next meeting on Friday, October 30.
Eide also said that the leaders welcomed the initiation of the work of the bi-communal ad hoc committee on EU preparations “which aims at preparing the future Turkish Cypriot constituent state for the implementation of the EU acquis upon entry into force of the settlement agreement.”
During the meeting, Anastasiades was expected to raise the matter of recent comments made by Akinci regarding permanent derogations from the acquis as regards population and property ownership.
Akinci said permanent derogations from the acquis should be viewed as a “natural right” of Turkish Cypriots instead of a restriction to the rights of Greek Cypriots or other EU nationals.
“We want some provisions of the agreement to become primary law of the EU… we know that the permanent derogations are something which is not very popular in the EU, but in spite of this some countries secured these derogations when carrying out their accession negotiations to the EU,” Akinci said.
The Turkish Cypriot leader said there was talk of temporary derogations “but being primary law is very important. The Turkish Cypriot community must find the way of being able to have the majority of property ownership and population in its own area. In this sense, understanding should be shown to our sensitivities…”
Greek Cypriots oppose such restrictions, saying people must enjoy all the freedoms enjoyed by other EU citizens.
Anastasiades made it clear on Sunday that although each community would have separate administrations this did not imply guaranteed majorities of population or properties in each region.
He said he and Akinci had agreed to implement the European acquis, and added that the Turkish side could not now start looking for permanent derogations.
“The solution to be reached cannot leave winners and losers, and permanent derogations would leave not only the Greek Cypriots as losers but also Europe,” he said.
The human rights and basic freedoms enjoyed by all other European citizens provided for free movement and the right to property for all, he added, as per the notion of a bi-zonal bi-communal federation as already agreed.
“But this does not imply majorities of population. This does not imply majorities of property,” he said.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.