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Roundup: UN chief keeps pressure on Cypriot leaders to deliver promises

Xinhua, September 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon kept up his pressure on leaders of the Cypriot communities to make good on their promises to try to end the 42-year long division of Cyprus, according to media reports on Thursday.

Cyprus was divided in 1974 when Turkey occupied its northern part, in reaction to a coup by the military rulers of Greece, and moved Turkish Cypriots from all over the island into the enclave controlled by Turkish troops.

Ban was reported to have telephoned Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci on Wednesday, days after he met them in person in New York.

He reportedly urged them to stick to their intensified negotiations to reach a solution agreement by the end of this year.

Cypriot government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides told state radio on Thursday that Ban, in his call to Anastasiades, expressed satisfaction with the results of his meeting with the two leaders on Sunday at the UN Headquarters.

"The secretary general repeated his readiness to get involved more energetically (in efforts to solve the problem) at any stage of the process if asked to do so by the leaders," Christodoulides said.

He also said that the dates for the upcoming meetings of Anastasiades and Akinci are expected to be announced either soon with the agenda of the negotiations.

Anastasiades returned to Cyprus on Wednesday night after talks on the Cyprus problem in London with British Prime Minister Theresa May and in Paris with French President Francois Hollande.

Britain, the former colonial power and also a guarantor power for Cyprus along with Turkey and Greece, has traditionally taken the initiative in moves for a Cyprus solution in the UN Security Council and the European Union. Enditem