A good discussion on the issues of property, and more specifically those related to the territory issue, took place on Tuesday morning in Mont-Pelerin, Switzerland, between Cyprus President, Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, sources say.

Discussion on the criteria of the territory issue that will begin on Wednesday morning is considered by the Greek Cypriot side as a crash test for the intentions of the Turkish Cypriot side as regards the negotiations in Switzerland, the same sources pointed out.

During their meeting this morning, the two sides discussed various aspects of the property issue with a view to prepare Wednesday` discussion on the criteria for the territory issue.

Meanwhile, negotiators Andreas Mavroyiannis and Ozdil Nami held on Tuesday afternoon a meeting from 1500-1700 local time to discuss issues related to property and the issue of the participation in the decision making process at the federal level.

The two leaders are scheduled to meet again this afternoon, 1730-2000, to discuss about the participation in the decision making process and to continue the discussion on issues they had looked into on Monday afternoon with regard to the EU and the economy. President Anastasiades is expected to be accompanied at this meeting by his advisors and participants in the Cyprus talks Polys Polyviou and Kypros Chrysostomides.

During their meeting on Monday afternoon, the two leaders focused on three issues of the four chapters that have been already discussed at the talks, related to governance, the EU and the economy. According to the same sources, the two sides have decided to discuss eight issues of the four chapters’ pending matters that are related to the territory. Four of these issues concern the property chapter.

According to CNA information there has been some progress, the most important of which concerns the chapter of the economy and more specifically the responsibility of the federal constituent states as regards the fiscal policy of the federal government. However, the issue will be further examined by experts of the two communities on the economy.

As regards the EU chapter, the same sources said there was an approach towards an agreement on economic aspect. The third issue discussed was the participation in the decision making process at the federal level.

On this morning’s meeting about the property issue, the sources noted that a very good first discussion took place particularly on matters related to the territory issue which are discussed for the first time and concern the properties that will belong to each constituent state.

Referring to the discussion of the criteria of the property issue, that will begin at 0900 on Wednesday and is expected to continue in the afternoon and probably on Thursday as well, they reiterated that for the Greek Cypriot side the most important criterion is the number of the refugees that will be able to return under Greek Cypriot administration, while noted as a second criterion the percentage of each constituent state`s territory.

The same sources reiterated the importance of having an agreement on the criteria that will then be used in order to draw a map. Furthermore, they noted that no location names will be discussed but only the percentage of the territory of each constituent state and that the Greek Cypriot side will not allow for the territory issue to be linked with the issue of security.

President Anastasiades will meet tonight with his aides to prepare tomorrow`s discussion on the criteria.

After that participants in the negotiations will attend a dinner at the hotel which hosts the talks, while following the dinner all those who wish to do so, will be able to follow together televised programme on the latest developments in the US elections.

Anastasiades and Akinci and their aides are in Mont-Pelerin to participate in talks, under the UN auspices, on the territory issue and all other outstanding issues interdependently. The talks in Switzerland are scheduled to be concluded on November 11.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied 37% of its territory. Anastasiades and Akinci have been engaged in UN-led negotiations since May last year, with a view to reunite the island under a federal roof.