LEFKOSA, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
UN Special Adviser on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide said Tuesday that he was optimistic that the suspended peace talks between the Turkish and Greek Cypriots would soon resume.
The UN envoy’s comments came after a meeting with the president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Dervis Eroglu.
Eide said that he felt the will to go back to the negotiation table was there on both sides, and there was a shared sense that the circumstances that led to a halt in talks may be over this Spring although "this still has to be agreed and declared."
"We are seeing that this Spring will be much more promising than last Autumn. Maybe we can take some optimism and say that we will not only be back on track but actually we may be able to accelerate the talks and have a faster process than we originally lacked," the UN official said.
Eide said he thought the negotiations could resume "based on the initial positions of both sides" within "a number of weeks, not months," adding that it is crucial that the two sides come back with "a shared will to make it happen, dedicate themselves to serious and fast negotiations, and try to confront even the most difficult issues."
Eroglu said he had a positive meeting with Eide and his team, and the Turkish and Greek Cypriot sides would likely return to the table in early April.
"It is our sincerest wish that (Greek Cypriot leader Nicos) Anastasiades return to the table and resume the negotiations," he said.
The Turkish Cypriot president said it was crucial that the talks would be restarted "from where we left off," at the last UN-hosted talks chaired by Eide on September 17, 2014.
Eroglu and Anastasiades had agreed at that meeting to move on to the "give and take" phase of negotiations.
Eroglu said they would continue the negotiations with "a will to get a solution."
"We will see if this is possible or not," he said.
Negotiations between Turkish and Greek-Cypriots resumed after a two-year pause in February 2013 with a joint declaration outlining the details of a federal state re-uniting the island after the previous round collapsed partly because of the Eurozone debt crisis.
However, the Greek Cypriot administration suspended the most recent talks on Oct. 7 after Turkey sent a ship to explore for oil and gas off the coast of the island.
Cyprus has remained divided into Greek and Turkish parts since a Greek Cypriot coup was followed by a Turkish peace mission to aid Turkish Cypriots in the north in 1974.
