Cyprus leaders to decide on peace talks July 25

Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders will decide on July 25 whether to move to direct reunification talks, Cypriot President Demetris Christofias said on Tuesday.
The talks are to try to end a conflict that has festered for decades, troubling Turkey's bid to join the European Union.
Christofias, the Greek Cypriot leader, said he would meet Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat this month to make a final assessment of preparations for talks. Diplomats expect them to start in September.
"At the next meeting with Mr Talat on July 25, and after a final review of results and work of (preparatory teams) we will decide whether to move to direct talks," Christofias told a news conference marking 120 days since his election as president.
"I don't have a plan B," Christofias said, asked if he had any fallback option should the sides fail to specify when talks will begin.
"We will just continue our efforts to create the preconditions for a dialogue. We will stick to our principles, but it doesn't mean we will give up and go home."
Christofias, elected in February, has held several meetings with Talat to try to kickstart talks, stalled for four years.
He is generally viewed as more conciliatory than his predecessor Tassos Papadopoulos, who led Greek Cypriots into rejecting a U.N. reunification blueprint in 2004.
The Mediterranean island was partitioned after a Turkish invasion in 1974 in response to a brief Greek inspired coup. The Greek Cypriot-led south represents the island in the EU and north Cyprus is a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state.
TURKEY IS "KEY"
Christofias said his side wanted to rebuild their partnership with Turkish Cypriots, who form about 20 percent of Cyprus's population.
"We have to understand we have been partners with the Turkish Cypriots since 1960," he said, referring to independence from Britain. "Unfortunately foreign intervention and chauvinist elements on both sides didn't let that work."
But he said a solution would not be easy. "A solution will continue to be very difficult and complex, and even more so because of the political situation in Turkey."
Turkey, which Greek Cypriots see as holding considerable sway over the Turkish Cypriot community, has been rattled by prosecutors' attempts to ban the ruling AK Party and the arrests of retired generals in a coup probe.
"The key to a solution is in the hands of Turkey," Christofias said.
Both Cypriot sides say they support a bizonal bicommunal federation but there is disagreement on how it will work.
Since April, teams of experts from both sides have been engaged in preparatory consultations, discussing complex issues ranging from future governance to property disputes.