Boris Johnson joins international Cyprus reunification talks

Boris Johnson is joining international talks aimed at reunifying Cyprus this morning amid hopes of a high-level breakthrough.

The United Nations has urged Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci to make the most of the talks.

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres has calling on them to "seize this opportunity" of a breakthrough peace accord.

Diplomats have been guardedly optimistic about the chances for a deal over the past year, noting that for the first time both the Turkish and Greek-Cypriot presidents have spent their entire political careers supporting reunification.

A senior UK diplomat said the UK was pushing hard for progress in the talks, adding that it was "hard to think of a bigger breakthrough for Europe" than resolving the 43-year-old frozen conflict, one of the world's oldest.

However their remains significant gaps between the two sides, particularly over the vexed questions of how to compensate for property seized on both sides following the Turkish invasion of 1974 that followed a coup engineered by the-then military junta in Athens. 

Since then Turkey has had more 30,000 troops stationed on Cyprus, which the Greek side now wants to see removed, arguing that an EU member state cannot have an enclave with security guarantees offered by a non-EU power.

The last attempt to resolve the crisis ended in failure in 2004 after the UN-backed "Annan Plan" was rejected by Greek-Cypriot voters in referendum. 

Britain, as the formal colonial power, is acting as a "guarantor" alongside Greece and Turkey. 

The Foreign Secretary will leave the talks early to return to the UK ahead of a Commons vote on a Labour amendment to the Queen's Speech. 

Mr Johnson was in Switzerland last night to attend a dinner to start discussions before formal talks get under way at the Crans-Montana ski resort on Wednesday.

Mr Johnson said: "This conference builds on months of hard work, commitment and progress shown by both sides.

"It's an exceptional opportunity for both communities to find a lasting solution for Cyprus, which will bring huge benefits to the whole island and the region.

"It will not be easy, but with political will, creativity and flexibility, I believe that a deal can be done.

"The UK is ready and willing to help in any way we can."

During the trip Mr Johnson is planning to hold meetings with Mr Anastasiades and Mr Akinci and the foreign ministers of Greece and Turkey.

Both sides have rejected a UN document designed to structure talks, which are scheduled to last until July 7 with hopes of a high-level agreement by next week.

UN peacekeepers continue to patrol the buffer zone between the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north, recognised only by Turkey, and the internationally recognised Greek Cypriot south.

One of the key issues to be resolved in the talks is security, with more than 30,000 Turkish troops still in the north. 

Last January Mr Akinci said one side demanding that the other remove its troops would rule out a mutually acceptable solution after the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said that recalling all Turkish troops was "out of the question". 

Money is a key to finding a solution. A total of 380,000 acres of land were abandoned by Greek Cypriots in 1974, while on the other side, 110,000 acres that once belonged to the Turkish Cypriot community is now in Greek-Cypriot hands.

At stake is billions of pounds' worth of property tied up in ghost towns such as Varosha, the once exclusive beach resort frequented by Richard Burton and Brigitte Bardot which was abandoned after 1974, and Morphou, a once predominantly Greek town of 18,000 that is now inhabited by Turkish-Cypriots.

Any settlement is likely to involve a federal arrangement, with the two communities sharing power in a united Cyprus through a revolving presidency, and will have to be supported in separate referendums of the two communities.