UN Secretary General`s Special Adviser on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide will have this week a series of meetings in Washington, with US Administration officials in an effort to discuss the current situation in the Cyprus peace talks.
“As part of the Special Adviser`s efforts to facilitate the Cyprus peace talks, Eide will be meeting with US Administration officials in Washington DC over the coming days to discuss the current situation and the way forward,” Aleem Siddique, UN Spokesman in Cyprus told CNA today.
Eide is expected to meet the acting replacement of Victoria Nuland in the Trump Administration, who deals with Cyprus, as well as other officials.
The UN official, who arrives in the American capital tonight, will address a discussion, organised by the US think – tank `Atlantic Council`, on Wednesday in Washington, on “Strategic & Sustainable Development for a Unified Cyprus”.
The negotiator of the Greek Cypriot Community at the Cyprus talks, Andreas Mavroyiannis and Victoria Nuland, Former Assistant Secretary, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs US Department of State, will also address the event.
Eide returns to Cyprus on Thursday evening and during his stay here, he will meet representatives of civil society. He has no scheduled meetings with the leaders of the island`s two communities, engaged in the UN-led peace talks.
He is expected to leave Cyprus next Tuesday.
The Republic of Cyprus, an EU member since 2004, has been divided since the 1974 Turkish invasion which resulted in thousands of refugees, hundreds of missing persons, dead and wounded. UN – led talks between the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot communities resumed in May 2015 with a view to reunite the island under a federal roof. The talks were interrupted in mid February by the Turkish Cypriot side, which demands that a decision passed by the Cypriot Parliament relating to a 1950 referendum on union with Greece is revoked, claiming this indicates a shift in the Greek Cypriot goal for a federal solution. The amendment notes that there will be a very brief reference to the referendum at schools.
Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades has described the House decision as wrong and called on the leader of the Turkish Cypriot side, Mustafa Akinci, who walked out of the talks citing the House decision as the cause of his actions, to return to the negotiating table to discuss pending issues with a view to reaching a mutually acceptable agreement to reunite the country