UN to host second meeting of Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders

The Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders will meet at the official residence of the United Nations Envoy to Cyprus this Friday for the second round of talks aimed at reuniting the two communities on the Mediterranean island, it was announced today.

UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told reporters that the meeting will allow the leaders – Demetris Christofias (Greek Cypriot) and Mehmet Ali Talat (Turkish Cypriot) – to review progress in the process they launched in March aimed at reuniting the country’s communities.

This will be their second formal meeting since Mr. Christofias’ election in February.

The meeting will be held at the residence of the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Cyprus, Tayé-Brook Zerihoun, in the UN Protected Area in Nicosia.

Last month, substantive talks among six working groups began after an agreement between representatives of the two leaders was brokered by the UN.

At the time, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe told the Security Council that he was optimistic that Cyprus could soon be reunified, but also cautioned that the upcoming negotiations between the two sides would not be easy.

“I think the entire world would be delighted to see Cyprus move forward on its negotiation,” he told reporters after briefing the 15-member body. “We would like to see this settled as soon as possible.”