With 2 sides at loggerheads, UN breaks off Cyprus talks

LEFKOSA

The UN envoy to the divided island of Cyprus said Friday that he has ended talks with rival leaders after they failed to agree on conditions for a peace conference in Geneva.

"Unfortunately, despite serious efforts to overcome their differences regarding the modalities for meeting in Geneva, the leaders were unable to find common ground," Espen Barth Eide said in a written statement on Friday.

"Without a prospect for common ground, there is no basis for continuing this shuttle diplomacy," he added.

Eide was involved in meetings with Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akinci and Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades for the past nine days to secure an agreement on the proposed conference.

Akinci and Anastasiades have been involved in reunification talks to create a federal state since May 2015.

The leaders met several times in Geneva last year, but their last meeting in February was wracked by controversy over a Greek Cypriot decision to introduce a commemoration of the 1950 Enosis referendum on unification with Greece.

The UN envoy stated that he would now confer with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres over what comes next.

Greek side insists on preconditions

Following Eide's statement, Akinci blamed the failure to reach agreement on the Greek Cypriot side.

“It was told us as of today that insisting on preconditions is an official approach of the Greek side. We do not have a position of accepting preconditions,” Akinci told reporters in Lefkosa.

“The stance of Anastasiades is against the conference declaration announced on Jan. 12,” he said. “At this point, Eide’s efforts have not produced a result because Anastasiades is continuing his same stance.”

The eastern Mediterranean island has been divided since 1974, when a Greek coup was followed by violence against the island’s Turkish population, and Ankara intervened to protect them.

Before the two-month break, the two sides had agreed on most of the issues in the reunification deal but the sticking points, including a security and guarantees system, remain unresolved.

Reporting by Murat Demirci; Writing by Nilay Kar