Cyprus Talks: Negotiations to resume on 11th April

The stalled Cyprus talks aimed at reunifying the divided island is set to resume on April 11 following a two months hiatus, the United nations announced on Tuesday.




UN Envoy to Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide's in a statement said the decision to resume talks came after consultations with the Turkish and Greek Cypriot sides, and a meeting on Tuesday between U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Mustafa Akinci, the leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot side.

"The leaders will resume negotiations at 10am on Tuesday 11 April 2017. The meeting will be held under the auspices of SASG Eide," a UN statement said.

Talks was abandoned in February following the decision of the Greek Cypriot parliament to introduce a bill for the commemoration of the 1950 Enosis (union with Greece) referendum in public schools, a decision the Turkish Cypriots side saw as a deviation from the stated goal of uniting the island as a federation.

Following Akinci's meeting with the UN Secretary-General on Tuesday, he said;

"I hope that this new beginning will bring positive results for all sides in Cyprus, the region, and all the other relevant parties."

The two leaders met for dinner on Sunday for the first time since talks were suspended in February.