Arriving in an atmosphere likely to be as euphoric as in the past few days, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will come in search of a permanent settlement on the future of Cyprus when he visits the partly reunified island on Saturday.

After failing to agree on a proposed United Nations peace plan that would have allowed a united Cyprus to sign a treaty of accession to the European Union last month, Erdogan's Turkish government declared the border open in a bid to regain credibility after the damaging stalemate.

The Turkish Prime Minister will now meet with Greek Cypriot leaders over the weekend to discuss a "road plan" to a final and mutual agreement that will secure permanent free passage between the two sides of the island and resolve other outstanding issues. Erdogan is also likely to broach the subject of the "global exchange and compensation" proposal for properties abandoned by Greek and Turkish Cypriots, a plan which Athens is reluctant to push the Greek Cypriots to accept and one Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash describes as "a recipe for chaos".

Property claims proving problematic

Turkey is already working on a plan to transfer thousands of Greek Cypriot property claims to a compensation board in northern Cyprus. The alternative would be for the claims to be sent to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg; something the Turkish government would gladly avoid.

Both sides have issues to address if an agreement is to be met. Tassos Papadopoulos, president of the Greek Cypriot-controlled south, will bring his EU approved package of confidence-building measures, designed to boost trade between the two sides of the island and provide jobs in the south for Turkish Cypriots, to the negotiating table. There will also undoubtedly be discussions over the Greek Cypriot request for Turkey to hand over the abandoned tourist resort of Varosha to the UN and to start the gradual withdrawal of its troops from the north.

Cyprus key to EU membership

Erdogan is likely to work hard at resolving the island's division during the meetings. A united Cyprus is essential if Turkey is to advance in its candidacy proposal for membership of the EU. Progress on the EU front would in turn boost the Prime Minister's reformist Justice and Development party's position at home, acting as a counterweight to an army suspicious of the government's Islamist roots.

Since the barriers in Cyprus were lifted ten days ago, 160,000 people, mainly Greek Cypriots visiting their former homes in the north have crossed the UN-patrolled Green Line. Going in the opposite direction, Turkish Cypriots traveled south to apply for passports and look for jobs. According to unofficial estimates, free-spending Greek Cypriots have already poured close to €1.78 million ($2 million) into the tiny northern economy. Eager to see their land, their birthplaces, or merely the long forbidden, they have spent almost €178,000 just on the obligatory car insurance at the border.

Euphoric island

The island has been in a state of rapture since the border was opened for the first time since 1974. On Friday, a joint Mayday demonstration on the Greek side of Nicosia was held by Greek and Turkish Cypriot trade unions. Demetris Christofias, secretary general of the Cyprus communist party, told the crowd that the historic events of the past week "have demolished the myth that Greek and Turkish Cypriots cannot live together."