(Recast) Cypriot communist party delegation to visit Turkey for talks on Cyprus issue

The Cypriot communist party, AKEL, has accepted invitation by the Turkish government to visit Turkey for talks on the Cyprus problem, the party's leader said on Friday.

"We have accepted the invitation and the meeting will be held on Jan. 23," AKEL Secretary General Antros Kyprianou told a party gathering.

Kyprianou has said that leading the party's delegation he will meet with Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

He said he has already spoken to Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and asked for a meeting so as to best prepare the members of AKEL's delegation who will travel to the Turkish city of Istanbul for the talks.

Though AKEL and President Anastasiades represent opposing political ideologies they see eye-to-eye on a solution which will reunify the eastern Mediterranean island.

Turkey withdrew recognition of Cyprus after it occupied the northern part of the island in 1974, reacting to a coup by officers of the military junta ruling Greece at the time.

It recognizes instead a breakaway "state" it set up in the occupied part of Cyprus.

Mustafa Akinci, acting in his capacity as leader of the Turkish Cypriot community, is currently engaged in negotiations with Anastasiades on a settlement of the long standing problem.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a six-monthly report on progress in the negotiations released in New York on Thursday, said the two leaders have reached an advanced stage and urged them to keep the momentum and continue until they reach an agreement.

Kyprianou said that AKEL had expressed its support to the process of the negotiations after it became evident that the talks are moving on the right direction. Endit