Talks on Cyprus fail to display any signs of progress

The Cyprus peace talks appeared to be at a standstill yesterday after separate meetings held by United Nations special envoy Espen Barthe Eide with Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish-Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci apparently failed to make any substantial progress.

Eide said the UN would back another international summit for Cyprus, but that it was up to rival ethnic leaders to decide whether there was scope for one.

But a new summit could prove elusive, at least for now, as both Anastasiades and Akinci blamed one another for the stalemate.

Anastasiades accused Turkey of a lack of goodwill to reach a settlement. Before yesterday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had described a proposal submitted by Anastasiades to Akinci on Wednesday as “strange and unreasonable.”

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov began a two-day working visit to Cyprus yesterday saying that countries should avoid force or the threat of violence and opt instead for the path of diplomacy. In reference to the escalation of incendiary rhetoric emanating from Ankara with regard to Cyprus’s gas exploration in its exclusive economic zone, Lavrov said that “in this case, as in any other similar case, there is a need for self-restraint not to threaten violence and also restraint not to use violence.”