CYPRUS: Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders agreed last night to resume negotiations aimed at reuniting the divided Mediterranean island, thus holding out the prospects of a lasting settlement before Cyprus joins the EU on May 1st, writes Michael Jansen
Announcing the breakthrough, the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, said negotiations would resume on February 19th.
"We have not yet solved the problem, but I really believe that, after 40 years, a political settlement is at last in reach, provided both sides summon the necessary political will," Mr Annan said in New York.
He thanked the heads of the two communities, Mr Tassos Papadopoulos, a Greek Cypriot who is President of the Republic of Cyprus, and Mr Rauf Denktash, the leader of the Turkish Cypriots, who live in the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is not recognised outside Turkey.
Mr Annan thanked them for the "courage and political will they have both shown" during three days of intensive talks at UN headquarters, culminating in a 10-hour marathon session which ended early yesterday.
Early next week, the UN chief negotiator, Mr Alvaro de Soto, will travel to Cyprus to restart negotiations. He will first stop over in Dublin, however, to meet the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, who last night welcomed, on behalf of the EU presidency, what he called a real opportunity to achieve a historic objective.
Mr Annan warned that a "lot of hard work is still needed" and there are "tough questions ahead" but "there is now a real chance that, before May 1st," when Cyprus enters the EU, the island, divided since Turkey occupied the north in 1974, "will be reunited".
The Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders agreed to negotiate on the detailed plan for a bizonal, bicommunal federation put forward by Mr Annan in 2002. The plan grants a large degree of autonomy to two component states linked by a power-sharing central government, reduces the amount of territory in the Turkish Cypriot zone from 36 to 29 per cent to permit the resettlement of Greek Cypriot refugees, and provides for security guarantees by Greece and Turkey.
Negotiations were disrupted last March when Mr Denktash rejected the Annan plan as "unacceptable" because it did not provide for a separate Turkish Cypriot state. Last month he reversed his stance, under strong pressure from Ankara.
Mr Annan said he expects the parties to finalise the plan by March 22nd during talks brokered by Mr de Soto.
Mr Annan accepted Mr Denktash's proposal to resolve any outstanding issues by convening a meeting of the two parties along with Greece and Turkey. If the sides still cannot agree, Mr Annan said he will fill any gaps, as "a final resort". His objective is to reach agreement by March 29th, so the text can be submitted in separate referendums to the Cypriot people for approval and a reunited Cyprus can join the EU.
While Mr Annan rejected the call by the Greek Cypriots for direct EU participation in this part of the process, he said the European Commission will be involved in discussions of technical committees so that the Cyprus settlement will conform to EU rules and regulations.
Mr de Soto said he will confer with Commission officials early next week en route to Cyprus, where the UN has prepared the facilities in the buffer zone near the old Nicosia airport for the resumption of intensive negotiations.
Mr de Soto made the point that Cyprus was the longest UN peacemaking effort, involving many secretaries-general.
The Cyprus President, Mr Papadopoulos, was pleased the talks were restarting but would not predict the outcome, warning ". . . there have been so many false hopes in the past".
The outgoing Greek Prime Minister, Mr Costas Simitis, was more optimistic. He said the news amounted to "a substantive and decisive turn for the final solution of the Cyprus problem".
Mr Ugur Ziyad, the under-secretary of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, was also upbeat. "I believe the work we have started will end in a win-win situation," he said.
He said Ankara's objective was to "have a resolution of this issue and to have the two sides live in peace within a common state".