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Thursday, June 29, 2017

Security remains a stumbling block in Cyprus peace talks

President Nicos Anastasiades, a Greek Cypriot, said after the first day of crucial peace talks in the Swiss alps that the plan Turkey offered to overcome one of the key stumbling blocks to an accord were unsatisfactory. Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci are meeting at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana to try to bridge the remaining issues preventing a reunification agreement. Earlier Wednesday, U.N. officials struck an upbeat note on the course of discussions, saying "creative ideas" on security had been exchanged. In Cyprus, several hundred Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots gathered in the divided capital's medieval center at a checkpoint along the U.N.-controlled buffer zone to voice their support for peace. Singing Cypriot folk songs and waving flags reading "peace" in Greek and Turkish, the demonstrators called on the leaders to deliver.


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.sfgate.com