Turkish Cypriot leader to meet Greek Cypriot counterpart, mends fences with Erdo?an

Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades will meet newly elected Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Ak?nc? on May 2 to push stalled peace talks forward, a Greek Cypriot government spokesman said on April 28.

Nikos Christodoulides also said the Greek Cypriot community was poised to announce "unilateral confidence building measures" towards Turkish Cypriots. 

Peace talks between Cyprus's estranged Greek and Turkish communities stalled last October, and May 2 meeting will be the first time leaders of the two opposing communities will have met since September 2014. 

"The president of the republic had a long conversation with Mr Ak?nc? and they agreed to meet at noon on May 2," Christodoulides said, referring to Anastasiades's official title as president of Cyprus. 

Ak?nc?, a moderate, swept to victory in Turkish Cypriot leadership elections on April 26, pledging fresh impetus in solving a conflict which has split the island for decades. He will be sworn in as president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on April 30. 

Christodoulides said the Greek Cypriot side was poised to announce unilateral measures to build trust between the two sides. 

He gave no details, but one such measure floated in the country was for the Greek Cypriot military providing ground maps for 28 mine fields laid before a 1974 war which now fall in Turkish Cypriot-controlled territory. 

"Confidence building measures will not supplant the peace process, but will reinforce it," Christodoulides said, according to Agence France-Presse.

Phone call with Erdo?an

Meanwhile, a phone call between Ak?nc? and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has defused tensions between both leaders.

"It was a call to...