Nicos Christodoulides

A Cypriot government official says the first meeting between the country's Greek Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades (photo) and the newly elected Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci has been postponed until next week.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades has spoken to the new Turkish-Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci with a view to restarting reunification talks after Sunday?s run-off elections in the occupied part of the island.

Anastasiades and Akinci affirmed their commitment to the island?s reunification, the Cypriot president?s office said on Sunday night.

Athens and Nicosia complained on Wednesday about the behavior of United Nations special adviser Espen Barth Eide after the mediator suggested in an interview that the Cypriot government should be consulting with Turkish Cypriots about the search for and use of the country?s hydrocarbons ? a position that is shared by officials on the Turkish-occupied part of the island.

Cyprus played down on Thursday an agreement granting Russian warships access to its ports and denied there was any request from Moscow to open a base on the island.

The heavily indebted eurozone member has close investment and tourism ties with Russia and has repeatedly expressed misgivings about EU sanctions against Moscow.

A report by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon which spoke of Turkish-Cypriot isolation on the divided island while failing to criticize Ankara for its violation of Cyprus?s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) has prompted a reaction from Nicosia.

Prospects for peace talks resuming on the divided island of Cyprus appear limited as, according to reports in the Turkish-Cypriot media, the Barbaros seismic research vessel is due to reenter the Cypriot Exclusive Economic Zone on Monday.

Cyprus warned Turkey on Friday that if it re-entered the exclusive economic zone where Nicosia has licensed exploratory drilling there would be no chance of resuming stalled UN-brokered peace talks.

Government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said any such a move would be a “worrying development” and would only “validate the reason for not returning to the talks.”

Greek Cyprus warned Turkey Jan. 2 that if it re-entered the exclusive economic zone where Nicosia has licensed exploratory drilling there would be no chance of resuming stalled U.N.-brokered peace talks.
      
Government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said any such a move would be a "worrying development" and would only "validate the reason for not returning to the talks."

Turkish government officials on Tuesday defended Ankara’s continuing violation of Cyprus’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ ) and proposed the foundation of a private company to undertake oil and gas drilling activities in the eastern Aegean until a solution is found to the Cyprus problem.

Cyprus's President Nicos Anastasiades will have heart surgery in the United States on Dec. 4, a government spokesman said on Tuesday.

Anastasiades, 68, will fly to the United States on Nov. 29 ahead of the operation, government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said in a statement.