Parties continue progressing towards ‘vision’ of united Cyprus: UN envoy

“The Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akinci, and the Greek Cypriot leader, Nicos Anastasiades, continued to make progress towards their shared vision of a united, federal Cyprus,” according to Espen Barth Eide.

Today’s meeting focused on issues of property and criteria on territory, Eide explained in a statement.

He said, “Regarding property, the leaders agreed that the individual’s right to property is respected. There shall be different alternatives for the regulation of the exercise of this right. Dispossessed owners and current users shall have various choices regarding their claims to affected properties.”

These different choices shall include compensation, exchange and reinstatement, stressed the Special Adviser. The exercise of any such choice shall be subject to agreed criteria.

There shall be a list of categories of affected properties, as well as an independent Property Commission – formed of an equal number of Turkish and Greek Cypriot members – mandated to resolve property claims, according to the statement.

“The leaders also underlined their commitment to maintain the momentum of the process and decided that their next meetings will be held on 1 and 14 September.”

In the meantime, the negotiators will continue to meet intensively between leaders’ meetings in support of this endeavour. Over the coming days, the negotiators will have joint sessions with the Working Groups on European Union Matters, Property and the Economy to more effectively guide their work.

During Monday’s meeting, the leaders also welcomed the strong expressions of support of the members of the UN Security Council for a settlement in Cyprus.

“In the prevailing positive climate, the two leaders will tomorrow participate in a musical event at the Othello tower as agreed by the technical committee on culture,” Eide added.

Photo: UNFICYP