Crans

Cypriots head to the polls on Sunday with hopes that the president who will lead the country for the next five years will bring continued economic growth and fresh reunification efforts.

Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said on Monday that Greece is willing to continue participating in Cyprus reunification talks within the framework of proposals presented by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the Crans-Montana peace conference in July.

In yet another pessimistic statement coming from Ankara, Turkey's EU Minister Omer Celik said Thursday that the Cyprus settlement talks were "not suspended, nor frozen," but "over."

According to the Anadolu news agency, he made his statement following a meeting with the UK's minister of state for Europe, Sir Alan Duncan, in Turkey.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias on Tuesday said Athens and Nicosia came even closer together after their cooperation at the inconclusive UN-brokered Cyprus reunification talks in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, earlier this month.

Turkey hit back on July 12 at comments by the Greek foreign minister about the recent conference in Crans-Montana, which failed to find a solution to the long-running division in Cyprus.        

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres may return to the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana to give another push to the Cyprus negotiations, according to a source in the Turkish delegation quoted by the Cypriot state radio on Saturday.

The UN-brokered Cyprus negotiations in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, aiming to reunite the divided island will take place in two separate “tables,” informed sources said on Tuesday.

The Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders, Mustafa Akıncı and Nikos Anastasiades, will meet in Crans-Montana, Switzerland on June 28. The meeting comes after strong pressure from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Gueterres to hold another conference in order to bring the two parties closer to a breakthrough with the participation of three guarantor countries: Turkey, Greece and the United Kingdom.

The United Nations special envoy Espen Barth Eide said Tuesday that success at the June 28 Cyprus Conference in Crans-Montana, Switzerland will hinge on a "strategic agreement" on the fundamental issues of security, guarantees, territorial adjustments, property and governance.