The Cyprus issue has truly come to a head, and the latest move by the UN only proves that the international community at large wishes nothing less than unification. In order to speed-up the unification process, the United Nations peacekeeping mission will hold an unofficial meeting between the two factions of the divided island country on the 16th of April. According to a statement issued by the United Nations, the meeting will have leader of Greek and Turkish Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades and Mustafa Akinci respectively, who will be presided over by Elizabeth Spehar, UN Chief of Mission to Cyprus. The meeting itself will be held at Spehar’s residence in Cyprus.
Intended to be an icebreaker of sorts between the two divided factions, the upcoming meeting will be first time of the two rival leaders interacting since the botched high-level peace talks in Switzerland in July last year.
UN officials hope that the meeting will help both leaders re-engage after what appears to be several months of no interaction.
While both sides have agreed that the meeting is one that goes in a positive direction, it does not mean that it will actually make a tangible contribution in resolving the issue – or even resuming negotiations in the first place.
