Dialogue starts in Cyprus amid mixed feelings

Turkish Cypriot side expects the meeting between Talat and Papadopoulos that comes after a 14-month break to produce results but warns the situation on the island will be complicated in the event of no dialogue

Before today's rare meeting between Cypriot leaders to break the deadlock in talks on the divided island, the Turkish Cypriot side delivered optimistic messages but warned that absence of dialogue will further complicate efforts for a settlement to the Cyprus dispute.

“It has been 14 months since the July 2006 meeting of the two leaders and the situation on the island got even worse,” Hasan Erçakıca, spokesman for Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat, told the Turkish Daily News yesterday.

He admitted that the absence of dialogue in Cyprus was damaging, pointing to a number of difficulties that strained the two sides during the more than one-year long break.

The island had then witnessed heated tension over oil exploration off the Mediterranean, a British football team's last-minute decision not to play against a Turkish Cypriot team upon reaction from Greek Cyprus and a growing lack of enthusiasm among Turkish Cypriots toward reunification according to recent public opinions.

The encounter between Talat and Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos comes on neutral ground in the U.N.-patrolled buffer zone amid rising uncertainty over the future of the island. Both leaders agreed at a U.N. brokered meeting on Jul. 8, 2006 to start a twin-track process to pave the way for peace talks.

But no progress has been made since then and the two sides delayed in carrying out the Jul. 8 agreement aimed at helping end the decades-old search for a way to reunify the island.

“We want the opening of the road for a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus problem,” said Erçakıca.

“The Greek Cypriots should also show goodwill otherwise the situation will be more complicated.”

Fears have been raised that permanent division is the only practical solution on the island after stalled talks on reunification. In a recent

interview with the Turkish Daily News, President Talat said the Turkish Cypriot side would work for a settlement but warned if the Greek Cypriots did not want a united island, then “we cannot go for a forced marriage.”

Erçakıca raised expectations that today's meeting would produce results and the Jul. 8 process would successfully be ensured.

“We are positive as there is no reason for being pessimistic,” he said.