- Title: CYPRUS-TALKS Cyprus talks resume, 'unique opportunity' seen-UN envoy
- Date: 11th May 2015
- Summary: ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** EIDE AND AKINCI GREETING MEDIA AND ENTERING LEDRA PALACE
- Embargoed: 26th May 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Cyprus
- Country: Cyprus
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA3Q09V8PDOG8RIFKLTKXKVUXJ4
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Leaders of ethnically split Cyprus agreed on Monday (May 11) to restart peace talks on May 15, a U.N. envoy said, 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 Akinci, a moderate leftist, swept to victory in a Turkish Cypriot leadership election on April 26.
"They agreed that it was important to use the momentum created and this new opportunity to move forward without delay," Eide told journalists outside a landmark hotel straddling a 'buffer zone' that has split the capital Nicosia for decades.
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.
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.
Eide said the two leaders had agreed to meet on May 15 to have a "general exchange of views" and discuss the modalities and structure of negotiations.
"I want to add from my side that I think this is a unique opportunity, an opportunity that will be grasped and it's truly rewarding to work with two leaders with such a strong commitment, to seeing a shared challenge that can only be solved through shared effort to find a shared solution," said 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 floundered 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. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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