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Cypriot community leaders fail to set date to restart stalled reunification talks

Xinhua, April 3, 2017 Adjust font size:

Leaders of the estranged Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities failed to fix a date to resume their deadlocked negotiations on the reunification of Cyprus, according to a United Nations statement issued Monday.

But the statement, issued after a four-and-a-half hour-long dinner hosted by the United Nations, indicated that they did not reject the prospect of continuing negotiations which were interrupted when Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci walked out on Feb. 16.

"The two leaders reconfirmed their joint commitment to finding a solution in the best interest of all Cypriots, taking into account the concerns of both communities," the UN statement said.

Sources with inside information said Akinci insisted on his demand for the "correction" of a decision by the all-Greek Cypriot parliament to commemorate in schools the anniversary of a 1950 referendum in favor of "enosis" or union with Greece, before consenting to the resumption of the negotiations.

A bill empowering the Ministry of Education to decide which anniversaries to be mentioned in school classes, which Akinci said is a satisfactory remedy, is set to be debated on Friday.

The UN said Anastasiades and Akinci, during their first meeting since the interruption of the negotiations, talked "about the challenges experienced over the last months" and "exchanged ideas about the way ahead."

It added that as the two leaders will be abroad in the coming days, Espen Barth Eide, the special adviser of the UN Secretary General on Cyprus, will be continuing his interaction with them in order to lay the groundwork for the resumption of the negotiations as soon as possible. Endit