The island’s two community leaders resumed their direct talks on Monday, by agreeing that the individual rights to property must be respected by both sides.
This was the seventh time that Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci have met in intensive talks in the past three months, with Monday’s agenda focusing on the sensitive property and territorial issues, as well as power sharing.
After returning to the Presidential Palace, Anastasiades said that Monday’s talks “also took place in the same good atmosphere,” as with previous meetings.
“The two leaders continued to mark progress in their common vision for a united and federal Cyprus,” said the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative, Espen Barth Eide, the Norwegian diplomat who is overseeing the talks.
Only last week, Eide was in New York to report to the UN Security Council that significant progress had been achieved ever since the talks resume following Akinci’s election in April.
Elaborating on his statement that the two leaders had agreed that the individual’s right to property is respected, he explained that “there shall be different alternatives for the regulation of the exercise of this right. Dispossessed owners and current users shall have various choices regarding their claims to affected properties. These different choices shall include compensation, exchange and reinstatement.”
Indicating that there has been a breakthrough on the thorny property issue, Eide said that a comprehensive solution will include “an independent Property Commission mandated to resolve property claims based on mutually agreed criteria. The Property Commission shall comprise of equal number of Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot members.”
Following a break in August, the UN official said Anastasiades and Akinci decided that their next meetings will be held on 1 and 14 September. He said that the two sides’ negotiators “will continue to meet intensively in support of this endeavour. Over the coming days the negotiators will have joint sessions with the Working Groups on European Union Matters, Property and the Economy to more effectively guide their work.”
The leaders also welcomed the reappointment of Pieter Van Nuffel as the Personal Representative of the President of the European Commission on the Cyprus issue, announced by Jean-Claude Juncker when he visited the island last week.
Also, continuing within the climate of exchange of unofficial events, as part of the low-level confidence building measures, Eide said that Anastasiades and Akinci, “in the prevailing positive climate, will (on Tuesday) participate in a musical event at the Othello tower as agreed by the technical committee on culture.”
The tower, restored with EU, USAID and other funding, is part of a network of landmarks that have been repaired or re-opened for use by both communities, including churches and mosques, religious and cultural sites. The tower is one of the ramparts of the Venetian-era walled city of Famagusta, presently in the Turkish side, named after the leading character in Shakespeare’s play of love, intrigue and murder.
In an interview in New York last week, Eide had said he believed that the Cyprus problem is “completely solvable, but it takes confidence, will and leadership”, noting that now all these are present simultaneously.
He said that much remains to be done and several months of hard work before reaching a political agreement and enough time for drafting the constitution. He also said that the talks now concern not only the issue of governance, but cover all aspects.
With regard to the direct involvement of the UN Secretary General in the talks, he noted that Ban Ki-moon is in contact with him and the leaders and is fully briefed, but will be involved when his presence is considered more useful.
