UN chief Ban to hold talks with rival Cyprus leaders

Athens/Nicosia - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will hold talks on Monday with rival leaders on Cyprus in the hope of giving peace talks aimed at ending the division of the eastern Mediterranean island a new thrust. The secretary general will meet with Greek Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat separately. The two men have so far conducted 16 months of peace talks with no breakthrough in sight.

"I am here to show my personal support for the Cypriot talks to reunify the country ... I am here to encourage these two leaders to bring these talks to a successful conclusion," Ban said upon arriving at Larnaca airport Sunday evening.

"I am under no illusions that the Cyprus problem is easy to solve or about the difficulties that you face. At the same time. I am confident that solution is possible and within reach."

Cyprus has been been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded the northern third of the island in response to a Greek-inspired coup.

Greek Cypriots currently live in the south and Turkish Cypriots in the north. The two sides are divided by a UN-supervised buffer zone, which runs through the heart of capital Nicosia.

The UN chief's visit is seen as an effort to shore up the faltering negotiations which began in September 2008.

Intensive UN-led negotiations have so far resulted in leaders describing significant progress in a series of areas of governance and power sharing. The two sides have however failed to agree on the core issues of property, security and territorial adjustments.

Any agreement between the two leaders will have to pass a referendum on both sides of the island.

Experts have expressed fears that the two leaders have little time left, with April elections in the occupied northern part of the island expected to bring a hardliner to power.

European Union officials have said that progress at the Cyprus reunification talks are essential to helping Turkey's slow-moving EU accession process move forward.

Although the peace talks and Turkey's EU membership negotiations are separate processes, a breakthrough on one is likely to have a positive impact on the other.

Leaders have suggested that many of their differences lie on how to deal with the thousands of property claims from people uprooted in past conflicts.

Greek Cypriot leaders have also criticized recent proposals by the Turkish Cypriots for separate rights to sign international agreements and control the island's airspace

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306880,un-chief-ban-to-hold-talks-with-rival-cyprus-leaders.html.