Nicosia--Greek and Turkish Cypriots are ready to resume peace talks following a six-month hiatus, the UN envoy announced Tuesday, aiming for a "strategic compromise" this year on the divided island.
The two sides have agreed to start UN-brokered negotiations "within weeks, not months," Norwegian diplomat Espen Barth Eide told journalists in Nicosia.
Eide said talks would not start until after April 19 presidential elections in the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which could go to a second round the following Sunday.
Cyprus has been divided since Turkey invaded in 1974 in response to an Athens-engineered coup seeking to unite the island with Greece.
Its northern third, still occupied by Turkish troops, later declared itself independent.
The TRNC is recognised only by Ankara, while the Greek Cypriot-controlled Republic of Cyprus is recognised by the international community and is now a member of the European Union.
"My primary focus is a strategic settlement, that is a strategic compromise to be reached," said Eide of a peace process that has repeatedly failed to make headway over the terms of a possible reunification.
"I strongly believe that 2015 will be a decisive year, a decisive year in the right direction."
Eide said Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart, Dervis Eroglu, "agree that circumstances are right... Both sides want the dialogue to resume from exactly where it was stopped."
And he added that "there is strong support from the Turkish government towards reunification."
The leaders still have to tackle the thorny issues of property rights, territorial adjustments and power sharing.
They re-launched talks in February 2014 after a two-year gap, pledging to work toward ending the island's division "as soon as possible."
And they agreed that any settlement would be based on a "bi-communal, bi-zonal federation with political equality... with constituent Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot states."
AFP
