Some pending issues are closing, but disagreements also remain in the negotiations, President Nicos Anastasiades said on Tuesday following a meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci.
The two leaders met for over three hours “in a good atmosphere”, discussing issues still pending in the ongoing talks for a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem.
Returning to the Presidential Palace after the meeting, Anastasiades said the two leaders were “briefed by the negotiators on the chapters covered to date, the progress that has been observed as well as the outstanding issues.
“At the same time, we have agreed that, until January 9, three or four leaders’ meetings will be held, while discussions between the negotiators continue with at least three meetings per week.”
According to state broadcaster CyBC, among the issues discussed was the tone of remarks made by each side, particularly with regard to the format and participants of the international conference on Cyprus, which is scheduled for January 12.
The Greek Cypriot side wants the list of invitees to include the European Union and the permanent members of the United Nations’ Security Council, as well as the Republic of Cyprus itself as a distinct entity to the Greek Cypriot community, whereas the Turkish Cypriots insist on a “five-party” conference featuring the two sides and the three guarantors – Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom – but concede that the EU may be represented.
The UN has thus far remained silent on the issue.
Anastasiades denied raising the issue at the meeting, arguing that he is deliberately trying to avoid damaging the ongoing effort to reach agreement on as many issues as possible.
“Our views are known, their views are known,” he said.
“This is a matter for the Republic of Cyprus, how it will act and what contacts, proposals, or goals it has.”
Asked when final decisions must be made regarding the composition of the international conference, Anastasiades said “certainly before we get there”.
This was the leaders’ first meeting following the breakdown of talks on territory at Mont Pelerin, Switzerland, last month, which threatened to destroy progress made over the last 18 months.
At a dinner hosted by UN special adviser Espen Barth Eide for the two leaders on December 1, a roadmap was agreed for a resumption of talks by the two sides’ negotiators, Greek Cypriot Andreas Mavroyiannis and Turkish Cypriot Ozdil Nami, with the two leaders engaging as needed.
On Tuesday morning, Mavroyiannis and Nami discussed “matters related to law enforcement and policing”, according to a tweet by Eide.
Their meetings will last until January 9, at which point delegations from each side, headed by Anastasiades and Akinci, will head to Geneva for intensified three-day talks aiming to settle all outstanding issues before the three guarantor powers and “other related parties” to be “invited as needed” arrive to join the two sides for a conference on Cyprus.
The conference will seek to find common ground on one of the most contentious aspects of the Cyprus problem – troop presence on the island, and guarantees, or the guarantor powers’ right of intervention. Greek Cypriots want both abolished, whereas Turkish Cypriots insist on Turkey’s continued right to protect their community, but have accepted that such a guarantee could be linked to a transitional period, at the end of which the issue could be reopened.
Both leaders have invited political party leaders to accompany them to Geneva, although some in the rejectionist camp on both sides have hinted at declining to do so.
In a written statement on Tuesday, a day after a televised interview in which Anastasiades launched a scathing assault on hardline parties for scaremongering and distorting his words, deputy government spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos sought to strengthen the message by calling on the public to stay united and ignore “divisive sirens”, referring to the mythical creatures who lured sailors to their demise with their song.
“As he should, the President is not eyeing the next [presidential] election, as others possibly do, but the next generations, who deserve to live in a reunited country, free of occupation and foreign troops, in conditions of security and prosperity,” Papadopoulos said.
Meanwhile, Anastasiades on Wednesday travels to Brussels, where he will attend Thursday’s European Council session.
There, flanked by Foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulides, Anastasiades is scheduled to meet Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his foreign minister Nicos Kotzias, in order to coordinate their strategy on security and guarantees.
According to the agenda of Thursday’s European Council, Anastasiades will brief EU leaders on the state of play regarding the Cyprus talks.
On the sidelines of the summit, Anastasiades will also meet with European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker and Council president Donald Tusk.
