Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he had not seen Cyprus’s stars as “optimistically aligned” in his political lifetime
Mustafa Akıncı is set to tell the UN Secretary-General that he wants the division of Cyprus to end this year.
The Turkish Cypriot president, who is New York for talks at the United Nations, was scheduled to meet Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday.
David Burrowes, MP for Enfield Southgate
The meeting comes as the British Foreign Secretary told parliament that there were high hopes for a settlement.
“I do not think we have seen—certainly not in my political lifetime—the stars as optimistically aligned as they are now for Cyprus,” Philip Hammond said.
He continued: “We have a Turkish Cypriot community leader and a Greek Cypriot President who are committed to a settlement, a Government in Athens that are distracted by problems of their own, a President in Turkey who is also clearly amenable to the idea of a settlement, and an excellent UN-appointed intermediary who is making progress with the talks that are going on right now.
UK LAND PLAN
The foreign secretary was responding to a question by David Burrowes, the Enfield Southgate MP, whose constituency is home to large numbers of Turkish and Greek Cypriots.
Mr Hammond said he was planning to visit Cyprus “in the near future” and added that his country had already made a “very big and generous offer” to the two sides.
He said: “As part of a proper, comprehensive settlement, we will surrender a significant proportion of the land mass of the sovereign base area in Cyprus to allow the economic development of southern Cyprus.
MORE CROSSINGS
Mr Akıncı’s visit comes a week after he agreed with Republic of Cyprus president Nicos Anasatasiades, the Greek Cypriot leader, to open two new crossings linking their estranged communities.
The two crossings – in Lefka (Lefke in Turkish) in the west and Dherynia (Derinya) in the east – will open as soon as technical work, such as laying of new roads, is complete.
Speaking on Thursday, UN Special Adviser Espen Barth Eide told reporters confirmed the decision and added that the two leaders had agreed to hold further talks on opening a number of other proposed crossing points.
“Today, the Greek Cypriot leader, Mr. Nicos Anastasiades, and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr. Mustafa Akıncı, took the next steps towards fulfilling their joint vision for a united federal Cyprus,” Mr Eide said, hailing the progress.
Mustafa Akıncı is in New York this week
POWER AND PHONE SHARING
“Their constructive dialogue included a range of core issues that go to the very heart of the Cyprus question.”
The two leaders also agreed to start work on interconnecting their electricity grids and to arrange for mobile phone networks to become interoperable.
The two leaders are next expected to meet on 17 June.
Enfield Southgate MP David Burrowes said: “I am pleased that the Foreign Secretary responded so positively in support of a solution to the Cyprus problem and that he will visit Cyprus soon.
“I promised my constituents at the election that I would be a strong voice for Cyprus and I have taken the first opportunity of a new Parliament to keep my pledge.”