Cyprus peace talks are due to restart in a matter of weeks after public commitments from Greek and Turkish leaders on the island.
It comes after the election late last month of the moderate Mustafa Akıncı to the Turkish Cypriot presidency in place of Derviş Eroğlu, who was widely seen as more hawkish in his stance on a resolution.
Mr Akıncı was in Turkey on Wednesday on his first overseas visit, where he met Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Ahmet Davutoğlu, the prime minister.
The Turkish Cypriot leader was widely expected during the visit to discuss getting Turkey’s help in acquiring well-trained experts especially on the fields of international law, property and constitution.
His meeting with Mr Erdoğan, which has just gotten underway as Londra Gazete went to press on Wednesday night, came just a week after a well-publicised spat between the two presidents over North Cyprus’s future.
Mr Erdoğan was quoted as warning Mr Akıncı to “use his ears to hear what his mouth was saying” after the Turkish Cypriot leader said North Cyprus should not perpetually be regarding as a “child nation” to Turkey.
But on Wednesday Mr Erdoğan laid on a lavish reception for his Turkish Cypriot counterpart, suggesting the rift between the two countries does not run deep.
UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY
The Ankara visit came a day after Espen Barth Eide, the United Nations special envoy for Cyprus, called on Cypriots to grab “a unique opportunity” for a settlement on the divided island.
“I am very encouraged by the climate that has been created over the last weeks and months here and I think this is an opportunity that Cypriots must take,” Mr Eide told reporters on Tuesday.
The envoy was speaking after talks with Republic of Cyprus president Nicos Anastasiades, who leads the Greek Cypriot community.
The Norwegian Mr Eide, who has already met Mr Akıncı, is to host a dinner for both community leaders next Monday, 11 May.
He said he said he expected the talks to start relatively soon: “I have invited them to a dinner. From there on we will decide when, not if, but when negotiations will formally start.”
“From then on I think we are into a very important moment of Cyprus history,” he added.
Peace talks have been on hold since last October, when Mr Anastasiades pulled out in protest at the presence of a Turkish seismic research vessel off the island’s coast.