Cyprus leaders decide to resume talks, new negotiations set for January

The Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders have agreed to immediately resume reunification talks, the United Nations stated on Dec. 2, with the five-party summit that Turkish Cyprus has long been waiting for set to start on Jan. 12, 2017. 

Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akıncı and Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades came to the decision while meeting for a dinner at the head of mission's residence in the U.N. Protected Area (UNPA) under the auspices of Espen Barth Eide, the U.N. secretary-general's special advisor to Cyprus.  

"The leaders have decided to immediately re-engage in their negotiations and have instructed their negotiators to continue meeting in order to achieve further progress on all outstanding issues interdependently," the U.N. said in a statement. 

The U.N. said teams of negotiators from either side will step up meetings in Cyprus ahead of the Geneva summit to mark further progress on other issues that remain unresolved. The leaders will meet as necessary.
According to the statement, the sides will meet in Geneva on Jan. 9, 2017 to reach a comprehensive settlement as soon as possible. 

"On Jan. 11, they will present their respective maps," it read. 

"From the Jan. 12, a Conference on Cyprus will be convened with the added participation of the guarantor powers. Other relevant parties shall be invited as needed," the statement added. 

Akıncı and Anastasiades met under U.N.-led efforts to find a peaceful solution to the more-than 40-year-old conflict in Mont Pelerin for two rounds of intensified talks in November.        

The thorniest issue for the leaders to agree upon was the territorial adjustments needed for an anticipated two-state federation. However, the two leaders could...