Greek Cyprus president says progress seen in long-running peace talks

NICOSIA - Reuters

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades, left, Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, right, and United Nations envoy Espen Barth Eide shake hands after their talks at a UN compound inside the the U.N buffer zone at the abandoned Nicosia airport in the Cypriot divided capital Nicosia, Friday, May 15, 2015. AP Photo

Negotiations to settle Cyprus's division are starting to show some progress, Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said on July 2, in an unusually upbeat assessment on prospects of ending one of Europe's oldest conflicts.
 
Anastasiades, who represents the Greek Cypriot community in reunification talks with Turkish Cypriots, told Reuters in an interview that some "convergences" had started to appear in negotiations on specific topics under discussion.

"If we continue at this rate I believe that soon we can start to speak of significant progress," he said.

Anastasiades added that climate in peace talks "substantially improved" after the election of the new Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akıncı.