Cyprus, Turkey peace talks fading

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NICOSIA, Cyprus — Hopes for talks to break a deadlock over Cyprus are fading, with both sides increasingly weighed down by issues that for years have prevented the unity of the Mediterranean island.

The Greek-Cypriot government announced this week that "difficulties have arisen" in the work of 13 technical committees charged with preparing the ground for hard-core negotiations, originally scheduled for June.

"Unfortunately, we don"t see the results we had expected to see," said government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou.

The statement was in contrast to the near-euphoric expectations of progress that followed the February election of Dimitris Christofias , a Communist, as Greek-Cypriot president. The optimism was heightened in April when the wall dividing the old town in the heart of the capital was opened to pedestrian traffic.

"Is Christofias getting cold feet on talks?" asked a headline in the English-language daily Cyprus Mail.

Turkish analysts said Turkey"s internal crisis and charges against the governing Justice and Development Party could effectively paralyze Turkey"s role as one of the guarantors of any solution. Turkey has an estimated 35,000 troops in northern Cyprus and their presence has weighed heavily on the deadlock.

According to Stephen Larrabee of Rand Corp., in view of the growing deadlock, "opportunities to make progress on the Cyprus issue could be lost."

"Turkey"s European Union negotiations could be suspended, and power could shift to the [Turkish] military, which traditionally supports a tougher line on Cyprus," he said.

In an apparent effort to save the preliminary talks, Mr. Christofias is expected to meet Mehmet Ali Talat, president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, next week. The Turkish-Cypriot side does not expect new proposals to emerge from the meeting.

Differences between the protagonists also emerged at a special seminar organized by the U.S. Embassy in Istanbul for journalists from the three countries at the center of the problem. Participants said they could not find a common language on any issue.

"The Greeks spoke of the Turkish invasion of 1974, and the Turks called it peace operation," one participant said. "The Greeks would not pronounce the name of the Turkish-Cypriot airport, Ercan, because it was named to honor a pilot shot down over Cyprus."

Soli Ozel, a professor at Istanbul Bilgi University, said, "All of this does not bode well for the [Turkish] government"s stance on Cyprus. No one is going to stick his neck out for a process that got badly burned four years ago." He was referring to the referendum in which the Greek-Cypriot side rejected a U.N. unification proposal.