Territorial land settlement issues, among them the status of the town of Guzelyurt/Morphou, are currently not on the negotiating table, UN Special Envoy for Cyprus Espen Barth Eide has said.
Speaking after his meeting with President Mustafa Akinci and on his way to meet Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, he said that:
“It is an established fact that the territorial land issues will be discussed in the last days [of the talks]. This [the Morphou issue] has not been negotiated yet and it will,” said Eide, adding there had been many difficult issues addressed since the negotiations began. “So there has been no substantive discussion on the issue.”
The two leaders of Cyprus were scheduled to meet on 11th March 11 in Nicosia for peace talks including the presence of Eide.
The talks were re-launched in May 2015 one month after Akıncı was elected as the Turkish Cypriot community’s new president.
Negotiation sessions have intensified and both leaders have made comments on the talks.
“We are not in the final stage of the process and since there is an agreement that the land issue is among the final issues [to be addressed], I think it’s quite clear that it is not on the table right now,” Eide reiterated.
Cyprus was divided into Turkish and Greek Cypriot sides after Turkey’s 1974 intervention following a military coup in Greece.
Hurriyet
