Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu have agreed to speed up the negotiation process to find a solution to the Cyprus issue, US Vice President Jo Biden said on Thursday evening.
The two leaders have agreed to meet at least twice per month with their next meeting scheduled for June 2, Biden said, and sent a message that if the two sides were to agree on a confidence building measure involving the fenced-off city of Famagusta, known as Varosha, which remains uninhabited since the Turkish invasion of 1974, the US would “stand ready to assist on the implementation”.
In his concluding remarks after hosting a three-hour-long dinner, attended inter alia by the two leaders, the negotiators of the two communities – Greek Cypriot Andreas Mavroyiannis and Turkish Cypriot Kudret Ozersay – and the UN Special Representative in Cyprus Lisa Buttenheim, Biden expressed his satisfaction with the fact that “the two leaders have reaffirmed their full commitment to the joint declaration of February 11th”.
“The two leaders agreed to speed up the process of negotiations towards a comprehensive settlement which is their priority”, he said.
He added that “they agreed to meet at least twice a month to this end”, noting that “their next meeting will be on June the 2nd”.
Flanked by the two leaders, the two negotiators and Buttenheim, Biden said “the fact that we break bread tonight in the heart of a beautiful ancient city, but also in a buffer zone that separates one Cypriot community from another, reminds us that things were not always are they are now”, adding that “they do not have to remain as they are now a better path is open”.
Biden continued to say that the two leaders also agreed “to intensify work on preparing meaningful confidence building measures as envisioned in the joint declaration”.
“The two leaders also agreed to revitalise the bicommunal technical committees to improve the daily lives of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots,” he noted.
At the same time he said the two leaders also agreed “to jointly call upon all those who have any information on missing persons to share that information with the Committee on Missing Persons, in order to assist the Committee in advancing its work”. They agreed, he added, “that additional resources should be provided for the work of the Committee”.
Biden pledged that the US “will engage with all stakeholders to explore mutually beneficial inititiatives to reinforce settlement negotiations”.
After the leaders, the negotiators and Buttenheim left, Biden proceeded to make some additional remarks.
“I have been engaged in negotiations around the world in many difficult conflicts but I must tell you I have been too impressed by the cordiality and the ease with which both leaders speak to one another and negotiate with one another”, he said.
He continued to point out that “tonight I heard both leaders confirm a common objective; the reunification of Cyprus as a bizonal, bicommunal federation”.
He said that he heard “common ground in certain aspects of these negotiations” but also “differences”, pointing out that “I do not believe that they are irreconcilable differences”.
“There is clearly a lot of work to be done, but what I am hearing gives me hope that a solution is within reach this time”, he stressed.
The United States encourages the leaders to discuss the package on Varosha and Famagusta and if the two sides were to agree on this “the US would stand ready to assist on the implementation”.
He further said that the US “is also hoping to see quick and substantial progress on a number of core issues which would allow the sides to enter the final phase of UN-led negotiations”.
Ultimately, he pointed out, “the solution cannot come from the outside. It cannot come from the US or from anywhere else”. It has to come, he added, “from the leaders of the two communities and the compelling voices of the civil society leaders I heard from earlier today.
People have asked me what is in this for the United States, he said, replying that “President Obama and I believe that Cyprus is a key partner in a challenging region and we know it can be even a stronger partner if the next generation of Cypriots can grow up without the burden of conflict”.
That, he added, “would expand people`s horizons to dream of something much bigger. It would unlock their talents and liberate them to do remarkable things”.
He said that “Cyprus can be a growing force for peace, prosperity and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean and that would benefit the world. That would benefit us all,” he added.
Biden said “there will always be doubters but I heard tonight from two leaders committed to proving them wrong”.
He recalled a poem by Irish poet Seamus Heaney in which he wrote that “history teaches us not to hope on this side of the grave, but once in a lifetime the longed for tidal wave of justice and hope and history rhyme”.
“For the sake of the boys and girls born on this island who deserve the possibility that only peace can bring let`s finally make hope and history rhyme together”, he urged.
Earlier Biden had met with civil society representatives and representatives of political parties from both communities.
Cyprus was divided in 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. The leaders of the two communities agreed in February on a joint declaration which paved the way for the UN-backed talks to resume with the aim to reunite the island under a federal roof
