Rival leaders of split Cyprus make inroads to work together but rift remains

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The rival leaders of ethnically divided Cyprus made some progress Wednesday on fostering trust between their conflict-riven Greek and Turkish speaking communities, agreeing to delve deeper into the dangers posed by minefields and working together on environmental initiatives.

But the two sides still have a long way to go to formally restart moribund peace talks, with both leaders alluding to the ongoing fundamental rift on the kind of a peace deal each side expects.

In a joint statement following the United Nations-hosted meeting, Ersin Tatar, the leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots and Nikos Christodoulides, the island’s Greek Cypriot President, said they also agreed on restoring neglected cemeteries and setting up a joint group of young people from both sides of the divide to discuss issues relevant to them.

The measures echoed those the two leaders agreed to pursue in a meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Geneva last month that aimed to breathe new life into a peace process on hiatus for nearly eight years. Guterres said he will appoint an envoy tasked with getting formal peace talks restarted.

The Mediterranean island was divided when Turkey invaded the northern part in 1974 following a failed coup by supporters of a union with Greece. Only Turkey recognizes a Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence, and has more than 35,000 troops in the island’s northern third.

Although Cyprus joined the European Union in 2004, only the Greek Cypriot south, where the internationally recognized government is seated, enjoys full membership benefits.

There was no agreement Wednesday on two key trust-building initiatives: building solar energy parks inside sections of a 180 km (120 mile) long U.N. buffer zone cutting across the island, and adding to the nine existing crossing points along that dividing line.

Tatar said that he’s hopeful “in time we will be able to achieve” progress.

“My friend Nikos, he’s got his own principles, I want our principles. What is important is to exchange and be positive so that we can achieve things together,” Tatar said.

Christodoulides suggested Tatar was using the issue of solar energy parks to promote his vision of a partitioned Cyprus. The leaders agreed to meet again later this month.

The leaders' remarks pointed to the wide gulf between how the two sides envision a future peace settlement.

Tatar and Turkey insist a two-state deal is now the only way to resolve one of the world’s most intractable disputes since the “old” model — a federation made up of Greek and Turkish speaking zones — is no longer viable after decades of failure.

Greek Cypriots say any deal that entrenches the island’s partition is a non-starter as it contravenes long-held U.N. resolutions endorsing a federation.

They also reject a Turkish and Turkish Cypriot demand for a permanent Turkish troop presence and military intervention rights under any accord, as well as giving the minority Turkish Cypriots veto power over all federal-level government decisions.

Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, left, shakes hands with the U.N. Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart before a meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar at a U.N compound inside the U.N controlled buffer zone at abandoned Nicosia airport in divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, left, waves as he arrives at a U.N compound for a meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, inside the U.N controlled buffer zone at abandoned Nicosia airport in divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, center, and U.N. Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart, right, talk after a meeting with the Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, at a U.N compound inside the U.N controlled buffer zone at abandoned Nicosia airport in divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, center right, and the U.N. Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart, center left, talk after a meeting with the Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, at a U.N compound inside the U.N controlled buffer zone at abandoned Nicosia airport in divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar waves to the media as he gets into a car after a meeting with the Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides and U.N. Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart, back right, at a U.N compound inside the U.N controlled buffer zone at abandoned Nicosia airport in divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, center right, and the U.N. Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart, center left, talk after a meeting with the Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, at a U.N compound inside the U.N controlled buffer zone at abandoned Nicosia airport in divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, left, and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, centre, walk before their meeting with the U.N. Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart, at a U.N compound inside the U.N controlled buffer zone at abandoned Nicosia airport in divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, left, and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, right, meet with the U.N. Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart, center right, at a U.N compound inside the U.N controlled buffer zone at abandoned Nicosia airport in divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, left, and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar talk before their meeting with the U.N. Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart, at a U.N compound inside the U.N controlled buffer zone at abandoned Nicosia airport in divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, left, and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar pose before their meeting with the U.N. Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart, at a U.N compound inside the U.N controlled buffer zone at abandoned Nicosia airport in divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.

In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.

Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.

“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.

If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.

For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.

“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.

Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.

"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.

Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.

Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.

Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.

The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.

“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.

As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.

What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.

The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.

One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.

Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.

“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.

The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.

Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.

“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.

Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.

“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)