EU urged to help break 'deadlocked' Cyprus talks

The EU has been urged to intervene to help break “deadlocked” talks aimed at resolving the Cyprus problem.

The appeal was made on Wednesday by Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, who was in Brussels for a series of top-level meetings with EU officials.

Expressing “dismay” at the slow progress of talks between the island’s Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders, Talat urged the EU to “encourage” the Greek Cypriot side to move the talks forward.

He said that negotiations, which started in June, were deadlocked on the issue of governance and power sharing, one of six negotiating topics between the two sides.

Specifically, he said the Turkish Cypriots objected to a new mechanism, proposed by the Greek Cypriots, for resolving disputes.

“We are stuck on this issue and we are still to face the most difficult one of the six, that of property,” said Talat.

“It is very frustrating but resolving this matter presents a major problem.

“The Greek Cypriots think differently to us on this but their proposals are totally unacceptable.

“Most Turkish Cypriots are still in favour of reunification but the pace of the talks are very slow, extremely slow, and it is hard to say if this level of support will continue.”

Addressing journalists at a briefing, Talat voiced particular disappointment at the now-unlikely prospect of the Turkish Cypriot community on the island taking up its proposed allocation of two seats after next year’s European elections.

He said, “The European elections are a kind of time limit for us in completing the current negotiations. But the Greek Cypriots seem comfortable with the current deadlock.

“They are not in a hurry and can wait for however long it takes.”

Talat met commission president José Manuel Barroso and EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn on Tuesday. Today, he meets EU foreign ministers and on Thursday Javier Solana, the EU foreign affairs supremo.

In the meetings, he said he will appeal to the EU to “encourage” the Greek Cypriots to inject more momentum in the talks and to “engage in a more serious process.”

He also said he had written to parliament’s president Hans-Gert Pöttering about the possibility of  MEPs from the Turkish Cypriot side having, at least, observer status after next year’s elections.

This currently happens in the Council of Europe but Talat said he did not receive a “positive” response to his request.

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