CYPRUS: Anastasiades to meet Akinci on August 9

President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci are to hold an informal meeting at 10:30 am on August 9, with the two leaders looking to see if there is ground for restarting negotiations for the solution of the Cyprus problem.

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Arrangements for the meeting are being made by the office of the UN Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus, Elizabeth Spehar.

The meeting is believed to be crucial for the future of peace talks in Cyprus as the two leaders will decide whether there is room to restart the negotiations, leaving behind a two-year stagnation following the crash of talks at the conference held in Crans Montana in Switzerland.

The two Cypriot leaders will have the chance to go over several other issues regarding relations between the two sides which have come up over the past few months.

The meeting follows a proposal tabled by the Turkish Cypriot leader regarding energy revenue sharing to help de-escalate tensions created over Turkish drilling activity off the divided island’s coast, which President Anastasiades rejected as “unacceptable” following a National Council meeting on Tuesday.

Nicosia argues that jointly managing the island’s untapped energy resources can only be workable once a decades-elusive peace settlement has been agreed and that Turkish Cypriots will get their equal share.

“The proposal of Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci cannot be accepted as it diverts from the substance of the Cyprus problem and the need to re-launch substantive negotiations with the aim of achieving a sustainable and functional solution,” said Cypriot government official Vassilis Palmas.

Government officials have on several occasions said that Turkey must first end its unlawful actions in the Cyprus EEZ before negotiations kick off again.