Doubts remain over Papadopoulos-Talat meeting

Doubts remain about whether (Greek Cypriot) President Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat will meet for anything other than a quick handshake during the visit of UN Undersecretary General for Political Affairs, Ibahim Gambari, who arrives next week on a visit to Athens, Ankara and Nicosia.

The two community leaders are due at least to be in the same room early next week to meet the new member of the Committee on Missing Persons.

However, Cyprus foreign minister George Lillikas raised doubts on Thursday about about whether a more substantive meeting would take place.

“From the moment the Turkish Cypriot side maintains a very negative stance on the sole issue before us, regarding the function of the technical committees …. I don’t think there is any space left for any one to contribute towards achieving some progress,” he said.

Greek Cypriots want the committees to discuss issues of substance while Turkish Cypriots appear to be less keen.