Cyprus president: Turkey vote prevents peace talks progress

Published March 22, 2017

Cyprus' president says he and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres share the view that progress in efforts to reunify the ethnically divided island is unlikely before next month's referendum in Turkey on expanding presidential powers.

President Nicos Anastasiades said after talks with Guterres Wednesday that peace negotiations which stalled amid a dispute over Cyprus' tumultuous history could resume soon.

But Anastasiades said because of the referendum, "it may not be time" for Turkish and Turkish Cypriot officials to "make those necessary decisions" that would move the process forward on key issues preventing an accord.

Those issues include Turkey's insistence on keeping troops and military intervention rights after Cyprus' reunification as a federation.

Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece.

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https://www.foxnews.com/world/cyprus-president-turkey-vote-prevents-peace-talks-progress