Confidence Building Measures for the Cyprus dispute

Talks to resolve the division of ethnically-divided Cyprus have been showing encouraging results, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guturres said on Thursday, but cautioned against expectations of a quick fix.

Speaking on the third day of reunification talks at United Nations offices in Geneva, Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades said he expected that the two sides would exchange maps detailing the respective zones' boundaries on Wednesday.

"I believe so... That's the agreement," the Cypriot President told the media as he arrived for the talks.

The leaders of both sides of ethically divided Cyprus have sought to temper hopes of a swift breakthrough in unification talks that started on Monday, initially focusing on how to handle property disputes stretching back more than 40 years.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades on Saturday urged Turkey to live up to its responsibilities and help to reunify the divided island when crucial peace talks resume next month in Switzerland.

Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci are to hold talks in Geneva from January 9 after negotiations broke down last month.

A senior United Nations official says ethnically-split Cyprus has a "historic opportunity" to reunite in 2017 and a meeting in Geneva in early January will be crucial for a peace deal that has eluded the island for decades.

Eighteen months of intensive talks between the estranged Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities will culminate at meetings in Geneva starting on Jan. 8.

Some 250 Greek and Turkish Cypriots marched on Wednesday in support of an accord reunifying their ethnically divided island ahead of a summit that will likely decide whether a deal on Cyprus is possible.

The government repeated Tuesday that it believes a meeting between Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a "necessary precondition" before a multilateral final summit, scheduled for January 12 in Geneva, about Cyprus can go ahead.

A month before crucial United Nations talks on the Cyprus issue in Geneva, which have been portrayed as a last chance to achieve reunification of the Mediterranean island, diplomatic activity is in full throttle.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades will meet Wednesday in Brussels ahead of a European Union leaders summit on Thursday.

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish-Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci will hold talks on Tuesday ahead of an international conference in Geneva on January 12 as disagreement remains on the issue of security in an envisioned federal Cyprus.

The Prime Minister's Office said the government has not ruled out a bilateral meeting between Alexis Tsipras and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before the January 12 multiparty summit concerning Cyprus that Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish-Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci agreed on late Thursday night.