President Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu completed Thursday the discussion of the property issue at the current phase of the intensified UN-led direct talks to solve the Cyprus problem.
Speaking after the meeting UN Secretary General`s Special Adviser on Cyprus Alexander Downer, said that they had a pretty long meeting focusing on exclusively the issue of property and working on the task of building core convergences on a series of issues in the property chapter.
He added that the leaders will move on, on Monday, to discuss the question of citizenship, immigration and aliens, and they will also discuss that issue on Wednesday. There will then be a further meeting on Friday, where they will be discussing the issue of the economy.
Asked about the reason President Christofias stayed a little bit longer with him after the meeting, Downer said that he wanted to have a talk with the President separately about another matter.
Asked whether there were some convergences in the meeting today, he said he will have much more to say about how this process has gone when they get to the end of the process.
“We are not going into details of it as we work it through”, he said adding that the UN are trying to be as discreet as possibly.
Asked about his yesterday briefing to the UN Security Council members on the latest developments in the Cyprus issue, through a teleconference, Downer pointed out that he spent an hour and a half, with the Security Council giving them a briefing on how this intensive phase of the negotiations was going.
“I made it very clear to the Security Council that, I make no predictions about what will happen, but an agreement on reunifying Cyprus is possible, it is certainly within the grasp of the Leaders. But to achieve it requires a lot of courage and a lot of determination, but it is possible”, he said.
The Australian diplomat said that there was great interest, in the Cyprus issue by the Security Council and that all 15 members of the Security Council spoke, some of them asking questions, some of them very well informed.
“I have to say, coming out of it they are very supportive of this process”, he said adding that members of the SC are anxious that the two Leaders succeed in these negotiations.
He added that people shouldn’t underestimate the importance of the strong support of the Security Council for the successful conclusions of these negotiations, given that there are other important issues as the issue of Libya.
Asked whether members of the SC raised the issue of natural gas, Downer said that quite a few raised questions in relation to natural gas, saying that that was a private meeting so he didn`t go on what they said.
Asked whether member of the SC linked Cyprus issue with the issue of natural gas, Downer said that “this was a briefing by me to the Security Council on Cyprus, and during the course of this briefing the issue of natural gas was discussed”.
Cyprus, divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupies it northern third, has granted Huston-based Noble Energy a concession for natural gas exploration in Block 12 of EEZ, which borders with Israel`s Leviathan“. Noble is expected to proceed with test drilling in Block 12 by the end of September. Cyprus has signed bilateral agreements for the delineation of the EEZ with Egypt, Lebanon and Israel.
Turkey, who does not recognize the Republic of Cyprus and disputes its right for hydro carbon exploration, has warned it would not hesitate to deploy warships in the Mediterranean, if Cyprus proceeds with the exploration efforts.
