Mustafa Akinci

Five days of U.N.-sponsored talks on ending the decades-old division of Cyprus have adjourned without a breakthrough but negotiators vowed Nov. 12 to press on for a deal this year.

The Cyprus peace talks made "significant progress" after five days of negotiations at the Swiss resort of Mont Pelerin, according to the United Nations, which said that the effort will resume on November 20.

Cyprus peace talks ended late on Nov. 11 in Switzerland without a final deal despite UN claims of "significant progress."

The high-level negotiations will resume in Geneva on Nov. 20.

Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akıncı and Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades were engaged in sustained negotiations in Mont Pelerin since Nov. 7 under the auspices of the UN.

The talks between Nicos Anastasiades and Mustafa Akinci in Switzerland, far from the pressures of Cyprus, allow us to hope that a solution may be near. The road will be long but the fact that the thorny issue of territory is being discussed is encouraging.

Turkish Cyprus is pushing for a deadline in the peace talks to begin discussions over land issues in a bid to take a major step to reach a final agreement.

Barış Burcu, the spokesperson for Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akıncı, said they were pushing for a deadline in the peace talks in order to discuss the map of a possible united federal state in Cyprus. 

Why are Greek Cypriots so offensive? Why do they attack and insult anyone who dares write something to their displeasure? Where is their tolerance to others' opinions in the Greek Cypriot democracy? In so many letters, as well as in discussion groups, there were incredible accusations against me.

A deal to unify Cyprus is within reach, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Nov. 7 as he opened a latest round of negotiations.

"The prospect of a solution in Cyprus is within their reach," said Ban as he opened a round of talks in a snow-bound hotel overlooking Lake Geneva in Switzerland on Nov. 7. 

"Expectations in both communities are high," he added. 

A deal to unify Cyprus is within reach, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Monday as he opened talks aimed at resolving one of the world's longest running political crises.

The Mediterranean resort island has been split since 1974, when Turkish troops occupied its northern third in response to an Athens-inspired coup seeking union with Greece.

We've been here before. Whether it was Geneva in Switzerland, Troutbeck in New York or Greentree in Pennsylvania, the leaders of Cyprus' rival Greek- and Turkish-speaking communities have often locked horns in foreign resorts to thrash out a deal that would end this tiny, eastern Mediterranean island's decades of ethnic division.

And they have failed.

Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders will meet for intensive negotiations from Nov. 7 at Mont Pelerin, near Lake Geneva, in the presence of the U.N. envoy for Cyprus, Norwegian diplomat Espen Barth Eide, in U.N.-backed peace talks aimed at solving one of the world's longest-running political crises.