CYPRUS: A New Year reception for Greek and Turkish Cypriot party leaders is to take place this afternoon at the Ledra Palace Hotel in the UN-controlled buffer zone which bisects this, the world's last, divided capital city.
The host for this event is Mr Dusan Rozbora, the ambassador of Slovakia, which has assumed an active role in fostering rapprochement between the political parties on either side of the Green Line.
The gathering is the first event in 2002 on a schedule of meetings intended to achieve reconciliation between the Cypriot communities, estranged and separated since 1974 when the Turkish army occupied the northern third of the island.
More events, such as panel discussions and other social gatherings, have been arranged for the first half of the year.
This get-together is the first since the breakthrough meeting early last month between the Cypriot President, Mr Glafkos Clerides, and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr Rauf Denktash, at which the two men agreed to thrice-weekly talks with the aim of achieving a political settlement by the end of this year. These negotiations are to resume on January 16th. While neither of the leaders is expected to attend today's gathering, it is suggested that they may meet before the UN-brokered talks resume.
When Mr Denktash dined with Mr Clerides at his home in the Greek Cypriot majority sector of the city last weekend, they agreed to resume work to resolve the issue of missing persons, frozen since 1997 when the Turkish side reneged on an agreement.
There are about 700 Turkish Cypriots who went missing during communal conflicts between 1963 and 1964 and in 1974 and 1,100 Greek Cypriots unaccounted for after Turkey invaded the island in 1974.
"Both sides will do everything that is required," Mr Denktash told the Turkish Cypriot daily, Halkin Selsi. Resolution of this issue would enhance the prospects for bicommunal reconciliation.
A poll taken in the republic revealed that 59 per cent of Greek Cypriots are beginning to express some optimism about the possibility of an early solution to the Cyprus problem.
Another survey conducted in mainland Turkey showed that 65 per cent of respondents approved of the resumption of talks, stalled for 15 months due to a boycott of UN-sponsored proximity negotiations by the Turkish side.