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UN-backed talks on reunification of Cyprus going well, says senior official

UN-backed talks on reunification of Cyprus going well, says senior official

Tayé-Brook Zerihoun, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and UNFICYP Chief of Mission
The leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities continued their talks today on the reunification of the Mediterranean island, focusing the discussion on the composition of a new executive branch of government, according to a senior United Nations official.

Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat

heard from their two representatives on the follow-up meeting held last week – after their regular weekly meeting – to help explain and clarify each party’s position on the question of the federal executive.

“The Leaders then took up the issue themselves and had a constructive exchange of views,” the Special Representative of the Secretary General Tayé-Brook Zerihoun told reporters after the meeting.

“[They] then directed their representatives to carry on these discussions next Thursday,” Mr. Zerihoun added at the press briefing in Nicosia.

Today’s talks, the latest in a series of weekly meetings under the sponsorship of the UN, included a preliminary discussion on the legislature that will continue when the two leaders meet on 3 November.

In May, Mr. Christofias and Mr. Talat committed to a partnership that will comprise a Federal Government with a single international identity, along with a Turkish Cypriot Constituent State and a Greek Cypriot Constituent State, which will be of equal status.

The full-fledged negotiations between the leaders began last month with discussions on the issues of governance and power sharing.