Greek Cypriots say welcome election of Turk Cypriot moderate

NICOSIA - Reuters

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Greek Cypriots welcomed the election of a moderate Turkish Cypriot leader in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on April 27, saying they anticipated a swift resumption of stalled peace talks.

Turkish Cypriot independent Mustafa Akıncı swept to victory in presidential elections on April 26, clinching 60.5 percent of the vote over incumbent conservative Derviş Eroğlu. Akıncı has pledged to push for a peace deal with Greek Cypriots. 

"At last, our hopes are high that this country can be reunified," said Greek Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades. 

As the Greek Cypriot community leader in talks overseen by the United Nations, Anastasiades will be Akıncı's negotiating partner if and when the peace process resumes. 

Cyprus was split in a Turkish military intervention in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek inspired coup. The Greek Cypriot-controlled south represents the whole island in the European Union, though membership is in political limbo in TRNC.

While any form of communication between Greek and Turkish Cypriots was severed for years, Akıncı was an exception. As mayor of the ethnically split Cypriot capital Nicosia in the 1980s, he and his Greek Cypriot counterpart Lellos Demetriades worked on devising a master plan for the medieval city, encased in Venetian walls, with the idea that it should be reunited. 

The city is still split by a U.N. controlled buffer zone -- a corridor of crumbling mansions, shops and homes abandoned in fighting. 

Though welcoming Akıncı's election, Greek Cypriots say any Cyprus settlement is contingent on Turkey, which bankrolls Turkish Cypriots and has some 30,000 troops in the heavily militarised state. 

"We have our hand outstretched, not for them to abuse it, but for them to accept it," Anastasiades said. 

Peace talks were halted last October, after Greek Cypriots suspended their participation in a row with Turkey over offshore hydrocarbons exploration. Greek Cyprus discovered gas offshore in late 2011 but Turkey disputes its rights and had dispatched an exploration vessel to carry out seismic research in Greek Cypriot-claimed waters late last year. 

The United Nations said its envoy, former Norwegian foreign minister Espen Barth Eide, would be in Greek Cyprus in early May to prepare for a resumption of peace talks.