Brussels, 02/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - The leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities will hold a meeting over dinner on 29 May, the special adviser to the United Nations secretary general on Cyprus, Alexander Downer, announced on 30 April. The dinner could take place in the residence of the head of the UN international force responsible for maintaining peace in Cyprus (UNFICYP), Lisa Buttenheim. “Over dinner, the newly elected president (of the Republic of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiadis) will have the possibility of meeting the leader of the Turkish Cypriots Dervis Eroglu, but negotiations between them are not foreseen. Things must move forward progressively”, Downer told journalists at the end of a meeting with Anastasiadis.
The resumption of negotiations should wait. Anastasiadis stated in a press release that, due to the economic crisis that is right across Cyprus, “we cannot put the emphasis on the issue of negotiations at the current time. We will do this, I hope, this autumn because right now our priority is to confront the economic situation and to bring responses to the people's concerns”. Stating that this is “a question of sequencing”, the permanent secretary of the ministry of foreign affairs, Andreas Mavroyannis, told EUROPE on 25 April that he wanted a full process to be started “in the summer” or “after the summer”. He added that resolution of the Cyprus issue remains a top priority for the Republic of Cyprus. For their part, several Turkish Cypriot leaders told EUROPE that the two issues - the economic crisis and the discussions on reunification - could be managed alongside each other.
Downer also met Prime Minister of the Republic of Cyprus Irsen Küçük on 26 April, and the ministers of foreign affairs and other officials in Greece and Turkey. “My negotiations with the two heads of diplomacy (Greek and Turkish) have been very constructive. The two countries want to find a fair solution”, he stated - although the Greek Cypriots consider that the key to the solution is in Ankara.
The island of Cyprus has been divided since 1974 and there are 40,000 Turkish soldiers in the northern part. (CG/transl.fl)