CYPRUS:GREEK AND Turkish Cypriot negotiators yesterday announced a modest breakthrough in the four-year stalemate in talks on the re- unification of Cyprus, divided since Turkey occupied the north in 1974.
George Iacovou, the Greek Cypriot official in charge of the work of six technical committees, and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart, Ozdil Nami, said there have been agreements in areas including transport, health and the environment.
"There is a lot more coming," Mr Iacovou said. Mr Nami concurred and said other agreements will be announced shortly.
However, Mr Nami refused to say whether the Turkish side is prepared to accept that Cyprus should become a bizonal, bicommunal federation with a single sovereignty, with international personality and citizenship, the formula accepted by the Greek Cypriots and the international community. Instead, he argued that the Turkish Cypriots had accepted the 2004 UN plan which, he implied, embodied these attributes.
Mr Iacovou said that since the UN plan had been rejected by the Greek Cypriots, it is no longer on the table.
UN spokesman José Díaz confirmed that "more practical measures are in the pipeline" and said the UN, the EU and the US are working to achieve a "common vision".
Cyprus president Dimitri Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat will meet on July 1st and again before August to work out a date and a timetable for the resumption of full-scale negotiations on a reunification accord.
But disagreements remain on this procedural issue as well as substance.
Ahmet Cavit, a Turkish Cypriot reunification activist, observed that the Turkish side continues to insist on two sovereign states with tenuous links.
Mr Christofias has expressed exasperation with Ankara for "meddling", and called upon Mr Talat to negotiate without referring to Turkey and asked it to withdraw half the 43,000 troops deployed on the island as proof of its good intentions.