Pompeo to meet Akıncı, Anastasiades in January

ISTANBUL

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is planning a visit to Cyprus in early January as he returns from a trip to Asia, according to Turkish Cypriot media.

Pompeo will meet with Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akıncı.

In a press release issued on Dec. 31, the State Department announced that Pompeo will travel to Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and from Jan. 3-7.

"The Secretary will reaffirm to leaders of both communities continued U.S. support for UN-facilitated Cypriot-led efforts to reunify Cyprus as a bizonal, bicommunal federation in line with UN Security Council Resolutions," the press release concludes.

In 1974, following a coup aiming at Cyprus’ annexation by Greece, Ankara had to intervene as a guarantor power. In 1983, the Turkish Cyprus was founded.

The decades since have seen several attempts to resolve the dispute, all ending in failure.

The latest, in 2017 in Crans-Montana, held with the participation of the guarantor countries -- Turkey, Greece, and the U.K. -- ended in failure.

In 2004, in twin referendums, the plan of then-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was accepted by Turkish Cypriots but rejected by Greek Cypriots.

Talks have focused on a federal model, based on the political equality of the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot sides, but Greek Cypriots’ intransigence and rejection of such a solution, including the Annan plan, led to the emergence of other models.

Mustafa Akıncı and Nikos Anastasiades, the leaders of Cyprus' divided communities, attended a dinner on Nov. 25 in Berlin hosted by the U.N. chief, seeking to find a way forward to resume talks.

After a tripartite meeting in Berlin, between Cypriot leaders and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Nov. 25, Guterres issued a statement saying that he “agreed to extend my efforts to achieve terms of reference to serve as a consensus starting point for phased, meaningful, and results-oriented negotiations at the earliest feasible opportunity.”