Eide: “The course of the negotiations and whether the island will be reunited will be decided in the following weeks”

The UN Secretary General’s Special Advisor Espen Barth Eide has said that the course of the negotiations and whether the island will be reunitedwill be decided in the following weeks.

The UN Secretary General’s Special Advisor Espen Barth Eide, who met with President Mustafa Akıncı for the resumption of negotiations, made a statement to the press after the meeting as well as answering questions.

Noting that the meeting was long and significant, Eide said that they had faced difficult days in the negotiation process and that the problems were caused outside rather than directly within the negotiations. He said that the Greek Cypriot Parliament’s vote to commemorate the Enosis plebiscite had created a serious problem, and they had tried to find ways to overcome it.

Stating that the leaders were also keen on a new method that would provide a more rapid compromise on outstanding issues that have been on the table for months, Eide said that a series of meetings were held after the talks in Geneva, but that no significant progress has been made.

Eide also mentioned that the negotiations did not deteriorate before the crisis, but that progress was slow in getting results on some important issues. He added that the parties involved used their time as effectively as possible in order to shape the methodology for the final outstanding issues, and that meant focusing on the core issues.