UN Special Advisor on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, strongly supports the idea of a meeting between Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the issue of guarantees, acknowledging that this is a thorny issue that needs to be resolved as Cyprus is in a volatile region.

In remarks after meeting in Athens on Friday with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, he said it was a “a very good and very thorough conversation”, particularly on the issues of security and guarantees which are now the most important elements of the remaining part of the negotiations that he is chairing in Cyprus.

Regarding his meeting with Prime Minister Tsipras earlier Friday, he said it was a “very good conversation which is very important at this stage”.

Eide said that after some difficult days in Cyprus last week, during the working dinner with the two leaders on Thursday they “not only overcame the disagreements that led to the problem but also they agreed on the way ahead, all the way to a Conference on Cyprus”.

Eide said it was a “very moving moment because I could see how these two leaders Anastasiades and Akinci were visibly very happy that they were able to move forward because they are so committed to finding a solution to this 42 year old problem over the divided island”.

The UN envoy reminded that on the 9th of January, the Cypriot delegations will meet in Geneva “to try to overcome whatever is left of the issues that are Cypriot only, to the extent possible, and from the 12th of January the guarantor powers, the EU and if need other players, will be invited to join the Conference. So it is one Conference but it becomes international on the 12th”.

He said the leaders are “very much aware that there are still issues to be solved and no one thinks that it is easy. But the strategic alignment on all those issues that we have been discussing is so high, that the remaining outstanding issues will be solved. I think so and they think so. They haven’t been solved, don`t get me wrong, but they will be solved”.

Regarding his visit to Athens, he said one of the purposes of his visit was to inform the Greek government about this and that he will will go from here to Ankara and discuss the same issues with the Turkish government.

Eide said “we need to understand how we deal with what is potentially the most critical issue which is security and guarantees. And here…the views of the guarantors are very divergent. Greece would like to see an end to the system that was introduced in 1960 by which Greece, United Kingdom and Turkey is party to the Treaty of Establishment, a Treaty of Guarantees and a Treaty of Alliance, whereas Turkey in principle likes to continue this arrangement”.

He remarked that from the conversations they had, there is now a better understanding of where potential compromises could be found. However he will know more about this when he visits Ankara, describing the issue of security and guarantees a “thorny” issue which needs to be resolved “to allow our friends in Cyprus to reunify which is clearly a desire held by the two leaderships but in my view also of a significant silent majority of people who would like this happening”.

On his meetings in Athens, he said they were “enlightening” and the primary focus is to find solutions, noting they they remain in contact and will be closely working on issues.

Answering questions, Eide said he very strongly supports the idea of a meeting between Prime Minister Tsipras and President Tayyip Erdogan. He said it is “healthy that those two guarantor powers have direct contact at a high political level”, and even if the purpose of this is not to solve all questions “it will be to have a better understanding of what we have to do, and how we have to work and what can be achieved at the Conference”.

Invited to comment on the starting and end date of the Cyprus conference, the UN official said the meeting between the two Cypriot sides will start on January 9, but there is no ending date, as it will depend on the progress made. “If necessary, there might be a pause and then we will return to the meeting,” he said.

He also said that the meeting between Greece and Turkey should definitely happen before this meeting, noting that there is no date now due to technical issues ie where the meeting will take place, “but willingness is there and I will bring some messages with me to Ankara regarding this issue”.

Eide said Cyprus is located in a part of the world where it simply has to be understood as an international issue in the broader sense as it is in a volatile region in the eastern Mediterranean where a lot of conflicts have been moving in the wrong directions.”

On the talks in Mont Peleran, he said the first time they lasted a week and it “was a great success. Everybody agreed that we managed to get at least as far as we thought we would get at that meeting” but the “second meeting was less successful than the first”.

Noting that it is expected to have problems, Eide said it is the “first time in living memory that Cyprus leaders have negotiated territory directly”, reminding that the UN is not writing a single sentence on this and every word is written by Cypriots. “We are facilitating, we are not doing it for them”, he remarked.

He further said that “in territory you have pain and suffering. You have mass losses. People who lost their land, their house, their livelihood, but also we have current pain, in the sense that people are living there now and wondering what will happen to their current life”.

So, we should all understand that these are among the most difficult issues to negotiate. They are very different from, let`s say, the composition of the governmental body, which is more political elite problem”.

However, he estimated “we are not doing that badly. I think that they are almost there when it comes to a broad understanding of the territorial issues and the rest will follow”.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Anastasiades and Akinci have been engaged in UN-backed talks since May last year, with a view to reunite the island under a federal roof.