Cypriot leaders held ‘substantive’ negotiations on property, UN envoy says

Talks yesterday between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders, aimed at reunifying the island of Cyprus and focused on property rights, were “substantive,” the top United Nations envoy there reported.

Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat each voiced their views on the principles the other side has presented, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative Tayé-Brook Zerihoun said after the meeting in Nicosia.

“They had a good round of substantive discussions on this issue and they have agreed to continue these discussions next week on the afternoon of 12 February,” Mr. Zerihoun told the press.

The Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, Alexander Downer, will arrive on the island that morning, and plans to attend that meeting, he said.

In May 2008, the two leaders committed themselves to working towards “a bicommunal, bizonal federation with political equality, as defined by relevant Security Council resolutions."

The partnership will comprise a Federal Government with a single international personality, along with a Turkish Cypriot Constituent State and a Greek Cypriot Constituent State, which will be of equal status.