Cyprus wants more EU involvement in reunification efforts, says President

Cyprus wants more direct involvement of the European Union in attempts to end the decades-old division of the island, its president Nikos Christodoulides said on Thursday.

"In the current geopolitical environment, following the Russian invasion in Ukraine, the European Union can - and must - contribute decisively in the restart of talks, always within the United Nations framework," Christodoulides said after meeting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin.

Cyprus was split in a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a brief coup engineered by the military then ruling Greece. Its division is a source of friction between NATO allies Greece and Turkey. [Reuters]