Rival leaders seeking a solution to reunify the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus embarked upon the complex legal issue on Wednesday of settlement and property disputes, where thousands of individuals stake a claim on property seized decades ago, reported dpa.
Greek-Cypriot leader Dimitris Christofias said the Cypriot government would support the rights of all citizens on property and was willing to consider the Turkish-Cypriot suggestion of damages in exchange for property.
Christofias made the comments prior to starting peace talks with rival leader Mehmet Ali Talat, adding that the issue of property was interwined with the issue for the return of refugees. The discussion ahead will not be easy," he said.
Despite the enthusiasm that greeted a new round of peace talks in September following a four-year stalemate, weekly talks between Christofias and Talat failed to produce a breakthrough in 2008.
The eastern Mediterranean island has been split since 1974, when Turkey invaded the northern third of Cyprus in response to a short- lived coup initiated by the military junta then ruling Greece.
Ankara still maintains more than 35,000 troops in the northern part of the island and refuses to normalize ties with the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus, an EU member.
Since then, countless efforts by the United Nations to find a solution to the decades-old problem have failed, most recently when former president Tassos Papadopoulos led the Greek-Cypriot rejection of a UN reunification plan in a 2004 referendum.
Turkish Cypriots had overwhelmingly voted in favour.
Following the election of Christofias last February, in which he ousted hardliner Papadopoulos, immediate steps were taken by both sides to relaunch full-fledged peace talks.
Although a settlement has been thwarted for decades, mediators are optimistic that Christofias and Talat will broker a deal in 2009. Any deal will need to be approved by Cypriots in separate, simultaneous referendums.
The two sides have agreed in principle to a settlement based on a federation, but the Turkish Cypriots want a loose federation, while the Greek Cypriots want a stronger central government and more limited regional powers which will prevent the island falling back into partition.
There is disagreement on whether a bi-zonal federation would permit free movement or try to enforce the ethnic majorities in the north and the south.
The ongoing conflict in Cyprus also threatens Turkey's aspirations of joining the European Union. Ankara started EU entry talks in 2005, but the Cyprus problem has proved one of the main stumbling blocks in negotiations.