THE Cypriot government blamed the breakaway ethnic Turkish pseudo-state yesterday for the failure of reunification talks in Switzerland.

Spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said Turkish Cypriot negotiators had evaded coming to agreement on how much territory each side would administer in a planned federation.

President Nicos Anastasiades was set to make a televised address last night to clarify the situation.

Turkish Cypriot counterpart Mustafa Akinci accused his opposite numbers on Tuesday of making unreasonable territorial demands, saying he had not gone to Switzerland to sign away the rights of Turks.

But he expressed hope that reunification could still be achieved this year.

The Foreign Ministry of Turkey, which props up the Turkish Cypriot republic, said in a statement on Tuesday that a “precious opportunity” had been lost, while reaffirming Ankara’s commitment to a deal.

The two-day talks in Mont Pelerin wrapped up on Monday even as a cross-community rally in support of reunification was held at Cetinkaya stadium in the divided island’s buffer zone.

The communist Progressive Party of Working People (Akel) urged Cypriots not to lose hope in the face of the “step backwards.”

Speaking after a meeting with US ambassador Kathleen Ann Doherty on Tuesday, Akel general secretary Andros Kyprianou said: “On the contrary, we should intensify the effort even more.

“We should do so in an effort to resume the negotiations as soon as possible, aiming at overcoming the obstacles that exist,” he said.