Eroglu warns januray summit is last chance for Cyprus unification talks

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Dervis Eroglu on Thursday warned that the peace summit at the UN in January will be the "last chance" to reach a settlement in ongoing Cyprus negotiations, urging both the UN and the EU to push the Greek side to commit to finding a comprehensive solution.  In opening remarks during the international symposium on isolation under way in Nicosia, the Turkish Cypriot leader said the UN and the EU should motivate the Greek Cypriots to seek a genuine solution to the divided island by lifting the embargos on the Turkish side and ending the isolation of the Turkish part of the island. "As long as there is isolation on the Turkish side, the Greek Cypriot leadership will have no incentive to pursue a real settlement," Eroglu noted. He said he raised the issue with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during an October meeting in New York. "I told him that we have been negotiating everything with the Greek Cypriots for four decades now. It is time to bring these talks to a conclusion," he said. The summit in January will be held first between the two community leaders. If talks are successful, the summit will pave the way for what Ban described as a "multi-lateral conference," a gathering that would include, among others, the guarantor powers of Cypriot sovereignty, which are Turkey, Great Britain and Greece. During meetings with senior EU officials in Brussels last week, Eroglu echoed a similar sentiment, saying: "I conveyed the same message to EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso, Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle and President of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament Martin Schultz. They say they share our grievances and agree with our concerns. But we did not see any action afterwards." "The EU needs to motivate the Greek Cypriots by ending the isolation of the Turkish side," Eroglu added.