Turkish, Greek Cypriot leaders to continue peace talks on Oct 8

Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat and his Greek Cypriot counterpart Demetris Christofias met at the U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in Nicosia.

Thursday's talks focused on governance and power-sharing issues, picking up where they left off a week ago.    Â

"I will let you down, I will not make many statements. We will discuss administration and power sharing again on October 8 and start to debate property issues after noting down what we have agreed on the previous issue," Talat said after the meeting.

"Our target is to reach a solution soon. There is not rapid progress but at the same time the talks are not fruitless," he added.

Christofias and Talat started to discuss governance and power-sharing issues during what U.N. envoy Alexander Downer described as "productive and fruitful talks" in last week's meeting, which followed the ceremonial launch of official negotiations on Sept. 3.

The Greek Cypriot leader said before Thursday's meeting that complicated peace talks to reunify the divided island could fail if the two sides do not find common ground on what a final deal should look like.

He said that if negotiations are to succeed, he and Talat should agree on the shape of a future federal government before they tackle the details of a peace deal.

"I told (Talat) that he should appear more reasonable and to extend his hand, otherwise if we don’t find a common language, a solution won’t be found either at the end of this or any other year," Christofias also said.

He added the goal was to first reach a "common understanding" on a deals core elements before moving on to the details. He said the new talks will take "some time" because they encompass numerous intricate legal and political issues.

Although there is no deadline for the talks conclusion, Talat has said he wants a solution by the end of the year.

The two leaders have agreed not to disclose any details about the negotiations, but recent public statements underscoring competing visions of a settlement have rankled both sides.

Christofias said he would ignore the public statements and would focus instead on what the two were discussing in their closed-door negotiations.

"Mr. Talat says and accepts one thing inside and proclaims another outside. People should know this," Christofias was quoted by the AP as saying. "For me, what counts is what (Talat) commits to inside and I hope that he keeps to those commitments until the end," he added.

The launch of negotiations marked the first major push for peace since the failure of a U.N. reunification plan in 2004, which was approved by Turkish Cypriots but overwhelmingly rejected by the Greek Cypriots.

Preparatory talks which began in March have been accompanied by confidence- building measures, notably the opening of a crossing in Ledra Street linking the south and north in the symbolic heart of Nicosia.

Past peace efforts have repeatedly floundered on the same sticking points - power-sharing arrangements, property rights for displaced Cypriots, the nature of a future federation and the intervention rights for Turkey and Greece. The two countries remain the guarantor powers for the island, which gained independence from Britain in 1960.

Cyprus has been divided since 1964 when Turkish Cypriots were forced to withdraw into enclaves.

EU TO ACCEPT ANY PROPOSAL
European Union Commissioner for enlargement Olli Rehn said on Thursday they were ready to accept any kind of proposal in Cyprus on which both Communities agree, on condition that a united Cyprus respect freedom, democracy and rule of law and abide by membership obligations.

The talks should be finalized within the scope of "a bi-zonal and bi-communal federation" as was stated in related decisions of the U.N. Security Council, he told a conference in Prague.