UN Secretary General`s Special Adviser on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide is set to host a dinner for Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci next Sunday, April 2, at Ledra Palace hotel, in Nicosia.
Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades (L)-Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci (R)
In a press release the UN SG`s Good Offices Mission in Cyprus announced on Monday that “Eide, will host a dinner for the Greek Cypriot leader, Mr. Nicos Anastasiades, and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr. Mustafa Akıncı, on Sunday 2nd April.”
“The dinner will be held at the Ledra Palace Hotel within the UN buffer zone,” the press release concludes.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. UN led talks between the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot communities resumed in May 2015 with a view to reunite the island under a federal roof.
The talks were interrupted in mid February by the Turkish Cypriot side, which demands that a decision passed by the Cypriot Parliament relating to a 1950 referendum on union with Greece is revoked, claiming this indicates a shift in the Greek Cypriot side`s goal for a federal solution. The amendment provides that there will be a very brief reference one a year to the referendum at schools.
President Anastasiades has described the House decision as wrong and called on the leader of the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akinci, who walked out of the talks, to return to the negotiating table to discuss pending issues with a view to reach a mutually acceptable agreement to reunite the country.
Sunday will be the first time the two will meet again.
