NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus' president says breakaway Turkish Cypriots have hardened their stance in long-running talks to reunify the divided island.
Dimitris Christofias, a Greek Cypriot, said on Wednesday that this shift "completely contradicts" a wish voiced by both Turkey and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu for a peace deal to be reached by the end of the year.
Cyprus was split into an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south and a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north in 1974 when Turkey invaded in response to a coup by supporters of union with Greece.
Nearly two years of peace talks have produced limited progress. Hardliner Eroglu’s ousting of the leftist incumbent in an election last April raised fears that the talks could be derailed.
