Presidents of Two Cypriot Republics to Meet, Revive Reconciliation

The President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades and his newly elected Turkish Cypriot counterpart Mustafa Akinci will meet on Saturday in attempt to revive talks on possible reconciliation.

It is expected that the two presidents will discuss the resumption of negotiations ahead of a new round of UN-mediated talks on reunification of the divided island.

The two leaders agreed to hold a meeting after a long telephone conversation on Tuesday, Cyprus Mail reports.

Akinci, who is firm proponent of reunification, was elected on Sunday after an overwhelming victory in the second round, in which he defeated incumbent conservative Dervis Eroglu.

Anastasiades said that the election of Akinci brought hope for renewing efforts on reaching a settlement after forty years of division.

UN Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, is expected to be back in Cyprus between May 4 and 8 to continue efforts on resumption of talks.

Reconciliation talks, which have been suspended since October, should be resumed after the Greek Cypriots ended a six-month boycott.

The Greek Cypriots withdrew from the UN-mediated talks as a protest against Turkish oil and gas explorations off the island's coast.