Turkish Cypriot president's spokesperson says button pushed to conclude Cyprus issue

LEFKOSA (A.A) - July 12, 2011 - A spokesperson for the Turkish Cypriot president has said that parties had initiated a move at the latest tripartite summit in Geneva to conclude the Cyprus conflict. 
In an exclusive interview with AA, Osman Ertug, spokesperson for President Dervis Eroglu of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), commented on the steps to be taken after last week's meeting between UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, TRNC's President Eroglu and Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias.
Ertug said "parties have pushed the button to end the Cyprus issue" during the July 7 summit, adding that late 2011 or early 2012 would be realistic targets for a settlement in the island, however, any date after 2012 would not be that realistic.
Ertug said there were 6 main chapters discussed during Cyprus peace talks, but none of these chapters had been closed yet and there were still several topics that had never been opened to discussion.
Noting that the negotiation process would be intensified after the Geneva summit, the spokesperson said, "Although not official, we have an actual calendar now and that is October 2011".
Reitetaring the UN head's call to the parties to intensify talks and try to agree on main issues until the October gathering in New York, Ertug said the Turkish Cypriot party would do its best to actualize such suggestion.
He said, at the upcoming meeting, the UN secretary-general would have to make a decision on whether or not the ongoing process would lead to any results and report the situation to the UN Security Council.
Eroglu also said that, unless the conflict was resolved until the first months of 2012, the Greek Cypriot party would become more uncompromising and inflexible due its upcoming presidency of the European Union.
"Therefore, expectations for the period after the first quarter of 2012 are not realistic. If anything can be done to resolve this matter, it should be done within this period," he noted. 
Talks, which aim to find a solution to Cyprus problem, began in September of 2008. 
So far, Ban, Eroglu and Christofias held tripartite meetings in New York on November 18, 2010, in Geneva on January 26, 2011, and most recently in Geneva on July 7, 2011.
At the latest summit, Turkish Cypriot President Eroglu and Greek Cypriot leader Christofias agreed to boost negotiations and expressed will to hold intensified talks on basic disagreed topics until October.