Cyprus Talks: the Key Issue Is the Presence of 35,000 Turkish Troops in the Island

• 06.29.2017, 17:15
•  Europe,  World

Reuters

On June 28 in the Swiss city of Cron-Montana the next round of talks on the Cyprus issue started during which a meeting between Nicos Anastasiades, the President of the Republic of Cyprus, and Mustafa Akıncı, the Turkish Cypriot leader was held. Representatives of 3 Guarantor powers (Greece, Turkey, and Great Britain) are also participating in the talks (Greece and Turkey at the level of foreign ministers).

The key issue is how security will be overseen, when Cyprus is reunified as a federation. Particularly, the sides cannot agree on the issue of the presence of 35,000 Turkish troops in the island. The UK has offered to cede almost half of its sovereign base areas to a united Cyprus and, privately, has been pressuring Turkey to accept a solution where, in lieu of a troop presence, a multilateral force, run by either the EU or UN, is mobilised to act as guarantor, The Guardian reports.

In contrast to the UK and Greece, which want to abolosh the guarantor system, Turkey, which views the invasion of Cyprus as one of its most successful military operations, has been digging in its heels. At the same time Ankara understands that the reunion of the island will be profitable, so in order to make some progress in negotiations, Ankara does not exclude that it can reduce the number of its troops in Cyprus, but has called a full withdrawal ʺunrealisticʺ. It should be noted that for the Greek Cypriots the presence of 35 thousand Turkish troops in the island is the most painful issue, and analysts do not expect Greek Cypriots to make concessions here. As a result, negotiations begin with the lack of a common position. So experts do not expect any document to be signed as a result of these negotiations, but they stress that this is the best opportunity to succeed in the negotiations as the peace talks are initiated by Cypriots, not by the international community.

This round of negotiations in Switzerland will continue until July 7. Besides, the security issue still needs to be resolved.