By Jean Christou

THE chief negotiators of the two sides on Wednesday began discussions on what the criteria would be for exchange, compensation or return of property after a settlement.

President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, who resumed talks on Tuesday after the summer break, have all but agreed on the categories of property owners or users but the criteria itself, which will be employed by the post-solution property commission, is still some way down the road.

According to sources cited by the Cyprus News Agency, the categories could number as many as 24 and include Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot property owners, current users be they Turkish Cypriots or Turkish settlers, or third-country nationals such as EU buyers of Greek Cypriot properties or lands.

The categories would also include Cyprus government and Church property, and those managed by the Turkish Cypriot religious foundation Evkaf and also lands on which schools, hospitals and roads have been built since the 1974 Turkish invasion.

The CNA sources said the categorisation was merely a record of the status quo but would be the basis for the work of the new property commission. The more important step would be the ultimate criteria under which decisions will be taken by the commission as to the fate of a property. The leaders have already agreed that the individual right to property would be respected but this has drawn criticism from affected parties on both sides of the divide.

According to the same CNA sources, the next three to four months would be decisive on the issue of the criteria.

Government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides on Wednesday welcomed the fact that property was being discussed at this stage of the negotiations because as an issue, it would affect other key aspects of the Cyprus problem, he said. “We consider this as a very important aspect of the property chapter and the evolution of the discussion will allow us to move forward with more accurate projections on how the process is progressing,” he said.

“This is a very important chapter, a chapter that affects other key aspects of the Cyprus problem such as territory, the issue of the settlers, and the economic aspect of the solution.”

The negotiators were meeting from the morning, he said, to begin work on the property criteria following instructions from the two leaders who are due to meet again for talks on September 14.

Meanwhile, the oppositions hardline parties on Wednesday issued lengthy statements slamming Akinci for mentioning the “new structure” of Cyprus after a solution. DIKO, EDEK, the Greens and Citizens Alliance all spoke of the forthcoming dissolution of the Cyprus Republic into a mere “constituent state” on a par with the breakaway Turkish Cypriot entity in the north.





