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Last Updated: Oct 28th, 2008 - 17:57:18 |
NICOSIA (Reuters) - Rival leaders of divided Cyprus launch last-ditch reunification talks on Wednesday to end a decades-old conflict threatening Turkey's EU membership hopes.
Greek Cypriot Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot Mehmet Ali Talat meet in no-man's-land dividing their capital Nicosia at 3 a.m. EDT, in what diplomats and analysts say is the best chance of a breakthrough after years of failed mediation.
"Excellent rapport exists at all levels," George Iacovou, chief aide to Christofias, told Reuters. "Now it is a question of negotiating in good faith and moving forward."
Christofias' election victory in February over Tassos Papadopoulos, who led Greek Cypriots in rejecting a U.N. reunification plan in 2004, marked a turning point in the dispute that has frustrated mediators for decades.
"This is a historic day, a beautiful day," said Ozdil Nami, chief aide to Talat. "Both leaders will be sending a message of hope to their people...to the world, that they are willing to negotiate."
The two moderate leaders will meet in the presence of former Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, appointed U.N. special envoy for Cyprus in July, at a compound which was once the island's main commercial airport.
When talks start in earnest next week, they will move to a renovated complex of low-lying buildings once used as arrival and departure terminals. In a testament to past violence, the bullet-riddled shell of an old jet sits on a runway overgrown with weeds.
Divided since a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek-inspired coup, the two sides have agreed to reunite as a bizonal bicommunal federation -- but not on how. A key dispute is the unrecognized status of breakaway northern Cyprus, and how to reintegrate it into the fold of a federation.
Peace talks in 2003 and 2004 failed when Greek Cypriots rejected the U.N. blueprint accepted by Turkish Cypriots.
There has been a shift in sentiment since then. The passage of time is making a settlement more complex, while the partitioned status of Cyprus is a headache for the European Union.
Represented in the bloc effectively by its Greek Cypriots, Cyprus has veto rights over the membership bid of Turkey, a key western ally in the volatile Middle East and Eurasia.
"Its widely believed that if these two moderates can't solve it, nobody can," said Hubert Faustmann, a Cyprus-based analyst.
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