Peace talks need common ground says Cyprus president

Nicosia: Cyprus's president warned yesterday that complicated peace talks to reunify the war-divided island could fail if the two sides do not find common ground on what a final deal should look like.

Dimitris Christofias said that if negotiations are to succeed, he and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat should agree on the shape of a future federal government before they tackle the details of a peace deal.

Third meeting

The two met yesterday at an abandoned airport inside the UN-controlled buffer zone for the third time since the two sides relaunched stalemated peace talks earlier this month.

Cyprus was divided in 1974 when Turkey invaded in response to a coup aimed uniting the island with Greece. "I told [Talat] that he should appear more reasonable and to extend his hand, otherwise if we don't find a common language, a solution won't be found either at the end of this or any other year," Christofias said before the meeting. Christofias, a Greek Cypriot, said the goal was first to reach a "common understanding" on a deal's core elements before moving on to the details.

He said the new talks will take "some time" as they encompass many intricate legal and political issues.

Quick solution sought

Although there is no deadline for the talks' conclusion, Talat has said he wants a solution by the end of the year.

The two leaders have agreed not to disclose any details about the negotiations, but recent public statements underscoring competing visions of a settlement have rankled both sides.

Christofias said he would ignore the public statements and would focus instead on what the two were discussing in their closed-door negotiations.