Cyprus President Urges 'New Impetus' in Peace Talks

The president of Cyprus called Friday for "new impetus" in a fresh round of peace talks with the breakaway Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC).

"We have to be well prepared for a new round of talks ... We are in total agreement (with Athens) that a new impetus is needed in the (upcoming) negotiations," Nicos Anastasiades told reporters after meeting Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras in Athens.

Samaras called for a "bizonal, federal state ... which will be in accordance with our relationship with the EU."

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops occupied the northern third of the island in response to an Athens-engineered coup in the south seeking union with Greece.

UN-brokered negotiations were suspended in mid-2012, as Turkish Cypriots walked off protesting against the south taking the European Union's rotating presidency.

But now the two sides are close to getting back to the negotiating table.

Anastasiades reiterated Nicosia's long-standing demand that Greek Cypriots should be allowed to return to the ghost-town of Varosha.

"The return of the fenced-off area of Famagusta will ... restore the Greek Cypriots' trust in Turkey ... and will bring the two communities together in the reconstruction of what has been a ghost-town for 39 years," he said.

Varosha, a suburb of the Famagusta port area, was evacuated during the Turkish invasion.

On Thursday, the TRNC said it was willing to resume talks.

"We want to reach an agreement on a peace plan by March 2014," the TRNC's foreign minister Ozdil Nami told reporters in Ankara.

At the end of September, the United States also expressed their hope for a new round of peace talks, as Anastasiades visited Washington.