Diplomatic efforts are being intensified ahead of the social dinner between President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci in hopes of breaking the ice around Cyprus talks that have been frozen for approximately two months.
The dinner will be held at 7:30pm on Sunday at Ledra Palace in the Nicosia buffer zone and will be attended by Anastasiades, Akinci, the two top negotiators Andreas Mavroyiannis and Ozdil Nami, as well as, the UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser Espen Barth Eide and the UN’s Adviser Elizabeth Spehar.
Talks between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot side stalled in mid-February, when Akinci walked out of negotiations, following a vote by the parliament to refer to a 1950 referendum on union with Greece in schools.
On Friday, Eide will meet with both Mavroyiannis and Nami separately.
Yesterday, the UN envoy met with Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexey Meshkov, who is visiting Cyprus, and later Eide met with UK Director General of Defence and Intelligence at the Foreign Office Jonathan Allen.
Allen also met with government spokesperson Nikos Christodoulides, Greek Cypriot negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis, and the Turkish Cypriot leader.
ANASTASIADES’ CONTACTS
On Friday, President Anastasiades met with Meshkov to discuss the restart of negotiations, and bilateral relations between Cyprus and Russia, as well as, regional and international issues.
According to diplomatic sources, the main hope of the international community is for the dinner to be held and for the leaders to show their commitment as to whether or not they want negotiations to continue.
Yesterday on the side-lines of a European People’s Party (EPP) conference, the President told CNBC that he hoped Sunday’s dinner would present the opportunity to restart talks.
He added that there has been a hardening in the stance of Turkey over the last few months and a withdrawal from convergences that had been reached.
The President also noted that Cyprus does not need guarantees, and that the island will not become the protectorate of any other country.
Read more here.
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
