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Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders meet today
The leaders of Cyprus' rival Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities meet today to decide if conditions are right for them to embark on historic talks to reunify the ethnically divided island.
- AP
- Published: 23:37 July 24, 2008
Nicosia: The leaders of Cyprus' rival Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities meet today to decide if conditions are right for them to embark on historic talks to reunify the ethnically divided island.
Cyprus President Dimitris Christofias, a Greek Cypriot, has been evasive about giving a starting date, insisting that it would depend on today's review of progress in the preliminary phase of a revived peace process.
But the leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots, Mehmet Ali Talat, on Wednesday signaled on CNN-Turk television that a September start to the full-fledged negotiations was likely.
The start of such top-level talks would end a five-month preparation period during which groups of experts from both sides tried to narrow the gap between the two communities on a range of issues, including contentious property and security arrangements.
Deadlock
More importantly, the talks would spell the end of a four-year deadlock ushered in by a Greek Cypriot rejection of a UN reunification blueprint - the culmination of years of negotiation. Turkish Cypriots accepted the plan.
Cyprus was divided into a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north and an internationally-recognised Greek Cypriot south in 1974 when Turkey invaded in response to a short-lived coup by supporters of uniting the island with Greece.
The two leaders must deal with a legacy of repeated failures during 34 years to negotiate deal. But the two appear determined not to let this chance slip away.
Christofias swept into power in February, ousting the hardline incumbent on a pro-reunification ticket and immediately sought to restart moribund talks with Talat.
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