Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci meet again on Tuesday, August 23, in the context of the UN led Cyprus talks aiming to reunify the island under a federal roof.
Reliable sources have told CNA that the aim is for all the different subjects to have been discussed by September 14.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. The ongoing UN led talks resumed in May 2015.
The two leaders are set to meet on the 23rd, the 29th and the 31st August and on the 2nd, the 6th, the 8th and the 14th September.
In the meantime, the two negotiators, Andreas Mavroyiannis and Ozdil Nami, who already had three meetings in the first week of August in preparation of the meetings the two leaders will have at the end of August, are also set to start meeting again as of September 1st onward, on the days in between the leaders` meetings.
In their last meeting on July 29, Anastasiades and Akinci delved into the territory issue and the issue of guarantees, two sensitive subject matters which have not been discussed officially at the negotiating table for some 12 years.
In statements to the press after the meeting, President Anastasiades said it was constructive but existing divergences remained.
“Today we got into deep waters but there is still a way to go,” he pointed out after the meeting, adding that there are divergences but both sides seem to have a will to deal with problems causing concern to the other side.
The meeting was attended only by the two leaders and the two negotiators.
Usually the meeting is hosted by the UN with the presence of UN SG`s Special Adviser on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide and UN SG`s Special Representative in Cyprus and Head of the UNFICYP Mission Elizabeth Spehar.