The foreign ministers of Turkey and Greece said on Saturday they saw an opportunity for progress towards a settlement of the Cyprus problem in the wake of elections on the divided Mediterranean island.
They were meeting in Ankara two days after Cyprus's newly elected President Demetris Christofias said he was likely to meet Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat later in March, the first such meeting on the island in years.
"We think that an important window of opportunity has opened for 2008," Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan was quoted as saying by the state-run Anatolian news agency in reference to the Cyprus issue.
Christofias, elected on February 24, has pledged to restart reunification talks between the Greek and Turkish communities on the island, whose division remains a hurdle to Turkey's European Union aspirations. He said the meeting would probably be between March 17 and 24. The island has been split since Turkey invaded in 1974 in response to a Greek-inspired coup in Nicosia. The EU recognises the Greek Cypriot government in the south of the island while only Turkey recognises the breakaway state in the north.
Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyanni's comments echoed those of Babacan. "There is a window of opportunity before us and it is an opportunity that we can develop by making a contribution," Bakoyanni was reported as saying. Peace talks have been on hold since 2004, when Greek Cypriot voters rejected a UN reunification plan shortly before joining the European Union.
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