The UN mediator on Cyprus, Alexander Downer, seeking to end a four-decade diplomatic deadlock, said Greek and Turkish sides now had strong economic reasons to agree a reunification that could help ease debt problems and speed exploitation of disputed gas fields.
“Both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots have economic difficulties,” Downer, who reports to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said. “It is a good opportunity to remind people that a solution to the Cyprus problem will be economically very beneficial and it will certainly be well received by the international community,” he told Reuters in an interview.
Downer, as have other envoys, has failed to get Greek and Turkish Cypriots to agree on a plan to re-unify on the island that was divided in 1974 by an unlawful invasion by Turkish troops, who remain there. Cypriot President Demetris Christofias will be in New York on Sept. 24 for the U.N.’s annual opening and plans to meet Ban as well.
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