Cyprus Talks: Leaders get talks back on track

Greek Cypriot Presidents Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci have agreed to immediately resume negotiations talks.

Both leaders of the divided island agreed on a formula to restart negotiations after attending a dinner meeting hosted by UN Special Advisor Espen Barth Eide and his Deputy Elizabeth Spehar, on Thursday night.

Following the resumption of negotiations in Cyprus, the two leaders will hold a joint conference in Geneva, Switzerland on January 9^th and will provide their respective maps on the January11^th after which, representatives of the guarantors powers, Turkey Greece and Britain will join the conference from January 12^th.

“1 December 2016 – Tonight, the Greek Cypriot leader, Mr. Nicos Anastasiades, and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr. Mustafa Akıncı, met at the Head of Mission’s Residence in the UN Protected Area (UNPA) under the auspices of the Special Adviser of the Secretary General (SASG) on Cyprus, Mr. Espen Barth Eide, read a statement released by the United Nations Spokesperson after the dinner on Thursday.

Both leaders assessed the state of play of the negotiations and exchanged views on the way forward. 

They also decided to immediately re-engage in their negotiations and have instructed their negotiators to continue meeting in order to achieve further progress on all outstanding issues interdependently why the leaders will also meet as required. 

Cyprus Weekly