Cypriot leaders engage services of Canadian experts for peace deal

Feb 12, 2009, 17:52 GMT

Athens/Nicosia - Rival leaders looking for a way to unify the divided island of Cyprus sought the expertise of Canadian experts Thursday on the tricky issue of seized property.

Emerging after nearly four hours of talks, Alexander Downer, the special advisor to the UN secretary general, said Greek Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Tatat still have a way to go before a settlement is reached on the decades-old division of the Mediterranean island.

'They presented their positions on the criteria for a property settlement ... This is a very early stage in those discussions and they have a way to go,' said Downer, adding 'these are difficult issues and are not going to be resolved in one meeting like that.'

He said the United Nations has engaged the help of renowned experts from Canada for assistance and guidance on constitutional matters.

'We have an academic who has been helping us. He comes from a Canadian University, I think the University of Western Ontario.'

Speaking to reporters following the talks, Christofias said 'the sooner that a solution is found the better for the entire Cypriot nation.'

'I have said that we have differences. Today the talks were held in a friendly manner and we continue our talks next week.'

The two leaders will next meet on February 19.

Despite the enthusiasm that greeted a new round of peace talks in September following a four-year stalemate, weekly talks between Christofias and Talat failed to produce a breakthrough in 2008.

Although a settlement has been thwarted for decades, mediators are optimistic that Christofias and Talat will broker a deal within the year. Any deal will need to be approved by Cypriots in separate, simultaneous referendums.

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.

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.

Ankara still maintains more than 35,000 troops in the northern part of the island and refuses to normalize ties with the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus, a member of the European Union.

Since then, countless efforts by the United Nations to find a solution have failed, most recently when former president Tassos Papadopoulos led the Greek-Cypriot rejection of a UN reunification plan in a 2004 referendum.

Turkish Cypriots had voted overwhelmingly in favour.

Following the election of Christofias last February, in which he ousted hardliner Papadopoulos, immediate steps were taken by both sides to relaunch full-fledged peace talks.

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.

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 one of the main stumbling blocks in negotiations.