Indication of solution timeframe by the end of the year

By Elias Hazou

THE way reunification talks will have shaped up by the end of the year, it should be possible by then to tell whether a solution to the Cyprus problem is feasible, the chief Greek Cypriot negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis said on Thursday.

He was speaking at an event organised by Frederick University.

Mavroyiannis clarified he did not mean a settlement was on the cards by the end of this year. But, he added, the current juncture presents more reasons for reaching a solution than ever before.

At the same time he struck a note of caution.

“Not all is rosy,” he said.

“On certain issues, the gap separating us [from the Turkish Cypriot side] is considerable. Our interlocutors talk about permanent derogations [from EU law] and about primary law, but that doesn’t mean we accept these things.

“Sometimes in a negotiation, you hear things that give you goose bumps,” he remarked.

Mavroyiannis said the two sides have entered ‘deep waters’ on the thorny issue of territory, but had not yet begun talking such details as percentages or the names of villages.

The Greek Cypriot side, he noted, believes the rights of property owners hold precedence, whereas current users have an ‘interest’ in the property.

Meanwhile, at an event organised for senior citizens at the Presidential Palace, President Nicos Anastasiades fended off criticism that his administration is enforcing an information blackout on the progress in the negotiations.

“I wish to make it clear, because I hear some say that we are keeping people in the dark. It is not Anastasiades who will sign the solution, it is the people who will decide.

“Therefore, the time for informing the people will come once a comprehensive proposal is on hand, not a partial proposal,” he added.

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.