Cypriot Leaders Set Date for Reunification Talks

The leaders of Cyprus's Greek and Turkish communities agreed yesterday to hold face-to-face peace talks to reunite the western world's last divided country.

Demetris Christofias, who heads the island's majority Greek population, said he and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mehmet Ali Talat, would start direct negotiations on September 3. The announcement came days after the 34th anniversary of the Turkish invasion that split the island, leaving Greeks and Turks entrenched behind a UN-patrolled ceasefire line.

"I think this is a step forward, a positive development," said President Christofias after the meeting. "There is a lot we agree on, a lot we disagree on, it's all a matter of a constructive stance."

Five months ago the prospect of the two sides launching fully fledged talks seemed a world away. Peace negotiations collapsed in 2004 when Greek Cypriots, encouraged by their former president Tassos Papadopoulos, roundly rejected what was widely seen as the most sophisticated reunification plan. Turkish Cypriots, whose state is only recognised by Turkey, almost overwhelmingly accepted the blueprint.

But the election to the presidency in February this year of the moderate Christofias after five years of uncompromising rule under the nationalist Papadopoulos immediately injected new momentum into the search for a solution.

Encouraged by the veteran leftwinger, bi-communal working groups began laying the ground for talks and confronting some of the thornier issues - such as security and the presence in the north of about 40,000 Turkish troops - that divide the two communities.

According to analysts, Talat and Christofias share a world view that is inspired by leftwing ideology, a background in trade unions and a firm conviction that Cyprus is simply too small to remain divided. On both sides aides insist that with much of the groundwork already covered, they hope the basis of a solution will be reached by next year.

To show that they mean business, both men agreed yesterday to establish a hotline between their two offices "as a reflection of their heightened engagement".

For the first time ever the two sides also agreed to cooperate on issues of environment, cultural heritage, crisis management and crime fighting. "They may sound like small things but in Cyprus they are big news," said one diplomat in Nicosia, the divided capital.