CYPRUS PEACE TALKS RESUME ON APRIL 11, UN ANNOUNCE
Talks for a Cyprus solution will resume on April 11, the Special Adviser of the UN Secretary-General on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, announced on Tuesday.
Archive photo: President Anastasiades (L) – T/C Leader Mustafa Akinci (R)
According to a press release issued by the Secretary-General`s Good Offices Mission in Cyprus “Cyprus talks will resume following consultations with both sides and today’s meeting between the Secretary-General and the Turkish Cypriot Leader, Mr. Mustafa Akinci in Brussels”.
It adds that leaders will resume negotiations on Tuesday 11 April, at 10am local time (07.00 GMT) and the meeting will be held under the auspices of Eide.
The resumption of talks was announced earlier by Espen Barth Eide, who posted on his twitter account that “After consultations with @AnastasiadesCY & @MustafaAkinci_1 following Sunday`s dinner, we have agreed that #CyptusTalks resume 11 April”.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. UN-backed efforts to reunify the island under a federal roof were suspended when Mustafa Akinci walked out of a meeting in mid February, claiming that a House decision to commemorate, briefly, in school a 1950 referendum advocating union with Greece was in fact a shift in the long standing position of the Greek Cypriot side for a bicommunal, bizonal federal solution in Cyprus.
President Anastasiades has described the decision “wrong”, saying the timing was not right. Akinci said he would not return to the negotiations unless the decision is revoked. The House is set to vote on an amendment on the bill, which essentially annuls the earlier House decision, on Friday 7 April.
The UN Secretary General Special Adviser Espen Barth Eide hosted a dinner last Sunday for President Nicos Anastasiades and the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci. In an announcement, issued after the dinner, the UN noted that the two leaders reconfirmed their joint commitment to finding a solution in the best interest of all Cypriots and exchanged ideas about the way ahead.
Furthermore, the announcement said that Espen Barth Eide would continue his interaction with them in order to lay the groundwork for the resumption of the negotiations as soon as possible.
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