US Vice President, Joe Biden, has expressed his strong support for Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades` “decision to resume and reinvigorate the Cyprus settlement negotiations.”
A White House spokesperson announced in a written statement, that US Vice President Joe Biden held a telephone conversation with the President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades.
“The Vice President spoke to Republic of Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades today (Friday) to express his strong support for President Anastasiades` decision to resume and reinvigorate the Cyprus settlement negotiations”, the White House spokesperson said.
This was the second time the two men spoke on the phone since last Wednesday, following President Anastasiades` decision to cancel his meeting on Thursday, in Nicosia, with UNSG Special Adviser Espen Barth Eide, as well as his meeting on Friday with the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, in the framework of the UN-led talks.
President Anastasiades` decision came after events in Istanbul at the World Humanitarian Summit earlier this week, despite the fact that Nicosia and the EU had received UN assurances before the summit that there would be no efforts to try to downgrade the Republic of Cyprus in some way or upgrade the internationally unrecognized self-styled Turkish Cypriot regime in the occupied northern part of Cyprus, during the summit.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had sent an invitation to the leader of the self-styled Turkish Cypriot regime Mustafa Akinci to join heads of state and government during the official dinner held on Monday, on the sidelines of the World Humanitarian Summit. Akinci flew from the northern Turkish occupied Cyprus on a special flight to Constantinople (Istanbul) and attended the dinner. President Anastasiades did not attend.
Neither the UN nor any other state, except Turkey, recognise the Turkish Cypriot regime, since its UDI (unilateral declaration of independence). UN Security Council resolution 550 calls on all states not to recognise it.
The leaders of the two communities in Cyprus, President of the Republic, Nicos Anastasiades, and Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akinci, have been engaged in UN-backed peace negotiations since last year, with the aim to reunite the island divided since the 1974 Turkish invasion.
Akinci is the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community, in the northern areas of Cyprus, which are occupied by Turkish troops since the Turkish invasion of 1974. Ankara occupies 37% of Cyprus` territory.