U.N. to seek Cyprus deal in 2012 at Geneva meeting

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon will seek a peace deal within a year from Cypriot leaders engaged in reunification talks on Thursday, a source close to the matter said, signalling growing frustration with a slow process that is harming Turkey's EU ambitions.
Leaders of the estranged Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities have been locked in rounds of negotiations to reunify Cyprus for almost four years, the latest of many previously ill-fated attempts to piece together an island riven by ethnic violence and war.
"By focusing their energy and rising to the occasion this (a deal) could be done in a couple of weeks," said a person familiar with the peace process, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"What we are seeing is too much attention paid to detail and not the bigger picture…They are getting stuck in the weeds."
Ban was scheduled to meet President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu in Geneva on Thursday. Another meeting with the leaders was possible in September, and Ban could also announce he was preparing a report to the Security Council on the state of play in Cyprus negotiations, the source said.
He was expected to seek a commitment from the two that they would ramp up Cyprus-based talks, held in a United Nations compound which forms part of a buffer zone splitting Greek and Turkish Cypriots since a Turkish invasion in 1974.
The U.N. wants the two sides to adopt a roadmap for progress and resolve outstanding issues in 12 months, concerned that any momentum could fizzle out when Cyprus takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union on July 1, 2012.
The Cyprus conundrum is taxing Turkey's bid to join the bloc, in addition to opposition from EU heavyweights France and Germany.
Greek Cypriots say Turkey cannot join the union until the Cyprus conflict is resolved.
Mediators are trying to reunify the island as a two-zone federation linked by a strong central government.
Among the most contentious issues are property claims from thousands of internally displaced people, security arrangements and redrawing boundaries between the sides. Territorial and broader security issues involving the roles of Cyprus's guarantor powers – Britain, Greece and Turkey – have barely been touched in negotiations.
Any agreement the two sides reach must go to referendum. A working assumption is for any deal going to the vote by the end of 2011, or by the first quarter of 2012 at the latest.
"A great deal needs to be done to prepare the public for a referendum," another diplomat said.
A recent poll by Interpeace, a Geneva based peacebuilding organization, showed a trend of undecided voters in the Greek Cypriot community inclining towards a "No" vote in a referendum, with Turkish Cypriots expressing increased ambivalence on what they would vote for.