Greece's Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias is due in Cyprus on Tuesday to review the way forward after UN-backed reunification talks collapsed in Switzerland earlier this month. Kotzias is to meet President Nicos Anastasiades and attend a national council meeting of Greek Cypriot party political leaders on the way forward at a time when the negotiations seem dead in the water.
The Greek Cypriot side will also discuss whether a change in strategy is needed and see what can be done to overcome the impasse in efforts to end more than 40-years of division. "This is within the framework of coordination between Athens and Nicosia for the next steps and, more specifically, (the presence of the Greek foreign minister) concerns our approach on security and guarantees," Cyprus government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides told reporters on Monday.
The talks between Anastasiades and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Mustafa Akinci broke down in the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana on July 6 after the United Nations failed to broker a compromise deal on a new security arrangement for a post-solution Cyprus. Greece wanted to end the right of intervention on Cyprus it holds with Britain and Turkey, while Nicosia was also pushing for a withdrawal of Turkish troops on the Mediterranean island and EU member state.