By Murat Demirci
LEFKOSA, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (AA) – The Turkish Cypriot president on Monday received the UN envoy a year after the collapse of the latest talks meant to resolve the dispute over the divided island.
Mustafa Akinci met with Jane Holl Lute, a temporary special consultant on Cyprus for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, at the Presidential Place in the capital Lefkosa.
The meeting lasted for around two hours and included Erhan Elcin, Akinci’s special advisor on diplomacy and the European Union.
No statements were made after the meeting.
Meanwhile, members of the “Bi-Communal Peace Initiative United Cyprus” demonstrated in front of the presidency carrying signs saying, “Peace and Solution Now,” in English, Turkish, and Greek.
Lute — a former U.S. deputy secretary for homeland security — is on the long-divided island to test a possible continuation of reunifications talks.
Earlier in the morning, Lute met with Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when a Greek Cypriot coup was followed by violence against the island's Turks, and Ankara's intervention as a guarantor power.
The Greek Cypriot administration is a member of the EU and is internationally recognized by all nations except Turkey, which remains the only country that recognizes the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
In 2017, after two years of negotiations, the latest attempt to reunify the long-divided Mediterranean island ended in failure.
