Europe

Cyprus talks to resume on May 15th

Leaders offer hope in quest for peace on island split between Greek and Turkish Cypriots

Women hold a Cyprus flag during a demonstration in favour of a peace settlement on divided Cyprus. It was the first encounter of Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci since Akinci, a leftist moderate, won leadership elections in northern Cyprus on April 26th. Photograph: Yiannis Kourtoglou/Reuters

Tue May 12 2015 - 08:39

Leaders of ethnically split Cyprus have agreed to restart peace talks on May 15th, a UN envoy has confirmed, offering fresh hope of healing one of Europe's most enduring frozen conflicts.

Espen Barth Eide was speaking to media after a meeting between Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci. It was their first encounter since Mr Akinci, a moderate leftist, swept to victory in a Turkish Cypriot leadership election on April 26th.

"They agreed it was important to use the momentum created and opportunity to move forward without delay," Mr Eide told journalists outside a landmark hotel straddling a 'buffer zone' that has split the capital Nicosia for decades.

Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades (right) shakes the hand of Turkish Cypriot president of the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Mustafa Akinci (left), as special adviser to the UN secretary general on Cyprus, Norwegian Espen Barth Eide (centre) looks on. Photograph: Iakovos Hatzistavrouiakos/AFP/Getty Images

A woman holds a placard during a demonstration in favour of a peace settlement on divided Cyprus, outside a venue where leaders of estranged Greek and Turkish Cypriots met, in NicosiPhotograph: Yiannis Kourtoglou/Reuters

Once catering to Hollywood royalty, the Ledra Palace Hotel is now a shabby shadow of its former self, and is used as living quarters for British peacekeepers.

READ MORE

The division of Cyprus has defied attempts by generations of diplomats to find a settlement. The east Mediterranean island has been divided since the Turkish army invaded in 1974 in response to a brief Greek-inspired coup aimed at union with Greece.

The seeds of division had been sown at least a decade earlier, when power-sharing crumbled into violence just three years after independence from Britain.

Mr Eide said the two leaders had agreed to meet on May 15th to have a “general exchange of views” and discuss the modalities and structure of negotiations.

“This is a unique opportunity, an opportunity to be grasped,” said Mr Eide, a former Norwegian foreign minister.

Both sides officially agree in principle that the island should be united under a two-state federal umbrella, but past negotiations have foundered on issues such as the powers of a central government and the residency and property rights of thousands of internally displaced people.

The last major peace push collapsed in 2004, when Greek Cypriots rejected a reunification blueprint accepted by the Turkish Cypriots.

Northern Cyprus is financially and militarily supported by Turkey, the only country which recognises it as a separate state. The Greek Cypriot government, which in practice controls only the south, represents the whole island in the European Union.

LATEST STORIES