Cyprus Meeting Could Yield Roadmap to Reunification

A rare meeting between U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the leaders of divided Cyprus could yield agreement on a roadmap to a reunification deal, the Turkish Cypriot leader said Saturday.

Mustafa Akinci met with Ban ahead of the Sunday trilateral meeting, with expectations running high of a breakthrough in the push to reach a final agreement before the end of this year.

"We expect from tomorrow’s meeting to trace a roadmap, to see how we can continue from now on and transform this progress into a real success story," Akinci told reporters on Saturday.

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades told the UN General Assembly on Thursday that a settlement to the decades-old conflict would provide a "beacon of hope" that even the world's most intractable problems can be resolved.

The division between Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities is one of the world's thorniest and longest-running diplomatic problems and has defied repeated efforts at a solution.

The United Nations relaunched talks in May 2015 tin what is seen as the best chance yet to end four decades of division.

Ban will begin his meeting with the two leaders at 10:45 am (1445 GMT) and is due to address reporters following the talks around 11:30 am (1530 GMT).

The Mediterranean island has been divided since an Athens-inspired coup in 1974 triggered a Turkish invasion of the north.

The division has been a major hurdle in Turkey's aspirations to join the European Union.

Negotiations have centered on creating a new bi-communal Cyprus federation, but there have been differences over the issues of property and territorial adjustments that could see a number of Turkish Cypriots displaced from their homes.

The issues of how many people will be allowed to return to their former homes and how many will receive financial compensation are also huge stumbling blocks.

The costs of compensation are estimated to run to billions of euros (dollars) and the financial aspects of the agreement are said to be among the issues on the table during the talks in New York.

Any agreement the two leaders reach will have to be put to simultaneous referendums on either side of the island.

A previous peace deal brokered by then-U.N. chief Kofi Annan in 2004 was backed by a significant majority of Turkish Cypriot voters but overwhelmingly rejected by their Greek Cypriot counterparts.