Eide: “It is necessary to create an environment of trust between the two communities”

The UN Secretary General’s Special Advisor Espen Barth Eide has said that no matter how determined the leaders are, they must also ensure that the two communities can trust also each other.

In a statement he made yesterday after the hour-long meeting with President Mustafa Akıncı, Eide said  that he held long and constructive meetings with both leaders in preparation for today’s meeting.

He said that the current environment is not ideal but that there have been many beneficial developments in the negotiation process. Eide added that today’s leaders’ meeting is important both in addressing recent developments and in making progress on the as-yet unresolved issues.

Eide also said, “I hope the leaders can clear the air during their meeting and find a common way to move forward, because the window of opportunity that we have been speaking about is there, it is still open, but I reiterate that it will not remain open for very much longer and we have to use what we have achieved as a platform to go the final mile.”

Answering a question on the decision of the Greek Cypriot parliament to mark the 1950 Enosis Plebiscite at Greek Cypriot schools and how to overcome it, Eide said that the issues will be addressed in today’s leader’s meeting.