Athens/Nicosia - Greek Cypriot President Dimitris
Christofias said Friday that the key to finding a solution to reunify
the divided Mediterranean island lies with Turkey.
Rival Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders launched new round of UN-
led direct negotiations in September 2008 following a four-year
stalemate.
'Our aim is to solve the Cyprus problem, but we have said many
times that the key for a solution is Turkey,' Christofias told
reporters, adding Turkey 'must move from its intolerant position.'
The eastern Mediterranean island has been split since 1974 into a
Greek Cypriot south and Turkish Cypriot controlled north. Turkey
invaded the northern third of Cyprus in response to a short-lived
coup initiated by the military junta then ruling Greece.
For decades efforts to find a solution have failed, most recently
in 2004 when former president Tassos Papadopoulos led the Greek-
Cypriot rejection of a UN reunification plan in a referendum.
Turkish Cypriots, on the other hand, had voted overwhelmingly in
favour.
Although a settlement has been thwarted for decades, mediators are
optimistic that Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali
Talat will broker a deal within the year. Any deal will need to be
approved by Cypriots in separate, simultaneous referendums.
'The fate of the people of Cyprus hinges on these talks and I mean
that,' said Christofias, adding that 'with the passage of time, each
time we fail, the situation on the ground becomes static and more
entrenched.'
Christofias told reporters that Greek Cypriots had better come to
terms with the fact that we will live with the Turkish Cypriots, and
'there is no possibility of a pure Greek state'.
The two sides have agreed in principle to a settlement based on a
federation, but the Turkish Cypriots want a loose federation, while
the Greek Cypriots want a stronger central government and more
limited regional powers which will prevent the island falling back
into partition.
There is disagreement on whether a bi-zonal federation would
permit free movement or try to enforce the ethnic majorities in the
north and the south.
Christofias said the Greek Cypriot side was facing major problems
in the settlement of property claims, one of the most complex
chapters in the negotiations.
Local reports said that after weeks of intense negotiations the
leaders were unable to broker an agreement on the property issue,
which includes the exchange of properties, compensation and how
properties might be returned.
Turkish Cypriots are proposing to exchange or compensate
properties belonging to Greek Cypriots situated in its territory and
to return them under certain conditions.
The Greek Cypriot government, however, argues that the property
decision is one that should be made by the owners.
At the time, 160,000 Greek Cypriots and 40,000 Turkish Cypriots
were uprooted from their settlements and forced to seek shelter in
opposite ends of the island.
This has led to property disputes where thousands of individuals
stake a claim to land and homes seized decades ago.
The ongoing conflict in Cyprus also threatens Turkey's aspirations
of joining the EU. Ankara started EU entry talks in 2005, but the
Cyprus problem has proved a main stumbling block in negotiations.
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