2015–17 Cyprus talks

U.N.-backed Cyprus reunification talks have hit a snag with the two leaders of the divided island at loggerheads over a possible summit in Geneva.

"Currently, we have reached a critical juncture in the process, since discussions are underway for the next steps forward," President Nicos Anastasiades said on May 19 at a Council of Europe ministerial committee session in Nicosia.

Talks aimed at reunifying Cyprus are at risk of collapsing due to a possible "international crisis" centered on the eastern Mediterranean island, according to a United Nations envoy facilitating the negotiations.

The President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Anastasiades will meet with the leader of the northern Cypriot community Mustafa Akinci on Thursday afternoon at the Lefkosia airport. The issue on the agenda of talks are expected to include the EU, governance and the economy. Two men are meeting in the framework of negotiations for the resolution of the Cypriot problem.

Greek and Turkish Cypriots have reached a critical juncture in negotiations to end the decades-old division of their island and only a small number of issues remain to be resolved, the United Nations envoy for Cyprus said on Thursday.

"We are at a crossroads," UN envoy Espen Barthe Eide told Reuters in an interview.

With the question "When will they collapse this time?" occupying minds, the Cyprus negotiations left behind yet another crisis and resumed on April 11. In Turkey, meanwhile, only five days were left before a crucial vote that may be of existential importance for the future of the country.

The two Cypriot leaders on April 11 rebooted stalled U.N.-backed reunification talks for the island and agreed to pick up lost momentum after a two-month suspension.

Ahead of the resumption of peace talks on Tuesday to reunite ethnically divided Cyprus, its President Nicos Anastasiades said on Friday that he will not put a peace deal before the people for a vote if it doesn't meet the expectations of the island's two communities.

Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said he and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres share the view that progress in efforts to reunify the island is unlikely before next month's referendum in Turkey.

One day after face-to-face talks between leaders of divided Cyprus broke off, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades on Friday sought to play down tensions ahead of the next scheduled meeting between the two sides on Thursday.