Nicosia: A working group due to convene on January 18 to hammer out security arrangements for a post-settlement Cyprus will meet for two to three days only, followed by another round of high-level talks, a source close to Turkish Cypriot side said yesterday.
Talks in Geneva last week failed to produce a breakthrough in a conflict spanning decades, though three countries which are stakeholders in Cyprus - Britain, Greece and Turkey - agreed to set up the working group to look at security arrangements after these turned out to be a major sticking point.
The working group made of technocrats from all countries involved were scheduled to meet at the Swiss resort of Mont Pelerin on January 18.
“The general agreement is that (working group session) should not take place for more than two or three days,” the source said, requesting anonymity. This would be followed by a new summit of politicians, possibly at a ‘higher level’ than foreign ministers who met in Geneva last week.
“All this should take place within January.”
Cyprus was split among its ethnic Turkish and Greek populations since Turkish troops invaded in 1974 in response to a short-lived coup by Greek Cypriot militants seeking union with Greece.
