National Council to review next steps post Berlin

Recent developments in UN efforts to resume stalled Cyprus reunification talks will be the focus of Wednesday’s National Council meeting of party leaders.

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades, who will chair the country’s top advisory body, to brief the National Council about his meeting in Berlin with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci.

After the meeting, in Berlin, on November 25, Guterres “agreed to extend my efforts to achieve terms of reference to serve as a consensus starting point for phased, meaningful, and results-oriented negotiations at the earliest feasible opportunity.”

He added: “I committed to explore with the Turkish Cypriot leader and the Greek Cypriot leader and with the Guarantor powers the possibility to convene an informal five-plus-UN meeting at an appropriate stage.”

Diplomats believe there will be no movement on Cyprus talks until after the Turkish Cypriot elections in April 2020.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third.

Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The last round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana collapsed into disarray.