GENEVA (AP) — A summit meeting between the rival leaders of ethnically divided Cyprus in this Swiss city will determine whether the east Mediterranean island nation can finally be reunified after decades of failed attempts and dashed hopes, a U.N. envoy said Monday. Espen Barth Eide said that 19 months of difficult and complicated talks between Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and breakaway Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci have reached their "moment of truth" and that the next few days would decide if a peace deal can be achieved. The two leaders have three days to reach agreement on these and other outstanding issues before the summit takes an international dimension, when the island's so-called guarantors — Greece, Turkey and former colonial overseer Britain — tackle the difficult issue of post-settlement security arrangements. The U.N. envoy underscored the talks' "Cypriot ownership" in order to avoid a reprise of a 2004 U.N. brokered deal that three-quarters of Greek Cypriots rejected in a referendum as unfairly weighted against them.
 |
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.sfgate.com |
