The United Nations has proposed a gradual buildup of talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriots to try to make progress within the first quarter of 2007, a UN document seen today said.
In a letter to the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, the United Nations proposed ways to kickstart stalled contacts between the two communities on the island, whose division is a major hurdle to Turkey's European Union accession bid.
In July, the two had agreed on a twin-track process on resuming talks, but progress has failed to materialise.
"It goes without saying that if there had been political will for progress the dispatch of this letter would have been unnecessary," a Western diplomat in Nicosia said.
The document, sent by United Nations Under-Secretary general Ibrahim Gambari to Cyprus president Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, is an attempt to resume Cypriot peace talks, stalled since 2004.
Timing of the letter, sent on November 15th, coincides with growing concern in the EU that a stalemate over Cyprus could dislodge Turkey's decades-old ambitions of joining the bloc.