Cyprus Negotiations Continue With Call to Joe Biden

20:40 - 14 Νοεμβρίου 2016

President Nicos Anastasiades’ string of consultations ahead of next week’s crucial second leg of talks with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci over the territorial aspect of a possible settlement to the Cyprus problem start Monday afternoon, November 14, with a call to US vice-president Joe Biden, according to government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides, Cyprus Mail reports.

Speaking on state broadcaster CyBC on Monday, November 14, Christodoulides said Anastasiades plans to convene a National Council meeting later this week to brief party leaders on developments during last week’s session in Mont Pelerin, Switzerland.

There, Anastasiades, Akinci and their respective delegations were hosted by UN special advisor Espen Barth Eide for a week’s intensive negotiations with a view to reaching agreement on the contentious issue of territory – how much land, of the island’s 37 per cent occupied by the Turkish army since 1974, will be relinquished to the Greek Cypriot component state in a reunited Cyprus – and thus moving to the final stretch of a comprehensive settlement.

Following a rather unexciting start to the week of talks things started to show promise of a drastic breakthrough in the final two days at the Swiss resort.

The final meeting between the two leaders went well into the night ending after five hours in which “notable” convergences were made – but no final deal, which the Greek Cypriot side insists must comprise agreement on criteria of land and coastline concessions, as well as the number of displaced Greek Cypriots to return under Greek Cypriot administration, as well as a map fleshing out the agreed criteria.

In this sense, the stated objective of the week-long meeting was not met – but, at Anastasiades’ suggestion, the two sides agreed to return to Switzerland on Sunday for three days in order to reach final agreements.

“Certainly, if agreement could be reached within, say, the next day, the president would naturally have extended his stay,” Christodoulides said, in a bid to dispel claims that Anastasiades sought to buy time by temporarily suspending the talks.

“Hence, he proposed a week’s hiatus before resuming the talks on Sunday, back in Switzerland, for three days.”

He added that, in addition to representing his community at the talks, Anastasiades is also the president of a country that has to be governed and meet various international obligations.

“For instance, there needs to be a cabinet meeting this week,” he said.

On Monday, the government spokesman confirmed that Anastasiades will meet Greek premier Alexis Tsipras and foreign minister Nicos Kotzias in Athens at 6pm on Wednesday.

While there, he will also brief main opposition leader Kyriacos Mitsotakis as well as his counterpart Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

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