Turkish, Greek Cypriot leaders to meet for peace push
Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and newly elected Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akıncı will hold a meeting on May 2 to give a new push to stalled peace talks, in a bid to reunify the ethnically divided island.
A Cypriot government spokesman told members of the media about the meeting on Tuesday. Greek Cypriots regarded election of Akıncı -- a moderate figure known for his firm stance in support of the peace process -- as a positive step that could facilitate efforts to end the decades-old division in the island.
Greek Cypriot spokesperson Nikos Christodoulides said the Greek Cypriot community was poised to announce “unilateral confidence building confidencebuilding measures” toward Turkish Cypriots.
Peace talks between Cyprus’s estranged Greek and Turkish communities stalled last October when Turkey sent a gas drilling ship coast off the Greek Cyprus. The discovery of new riches in natural gas in the East Mediterranean, close to the island’s coast, added a new twist to the reunification talks.
Both Turkish and Greek Cypriot governments view the energy resources as a driving factor for the resumption of negotiations. Saturday’s meeting will be the first time leaders of the two opposing communities will have met since September 2014.
“The president of the [Greek] republic had a long conversation with Mr. Akıncı and they agreed to meet at noon on Saturday,” Christodoulides said, referring to Anastasiades.