NICOSIA, Nov 23 (NNN-Xinhua) — Greek and Turkish Cypriots joined forces on Friday night in a bid to nudge their leaders towards new peace negotiations to reach a Cyprus reunification arrangement.
After marching in the streets of both the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot sectors of the divided Cypriot capital, delegations handed to the community leaders a petition, expressing concern at the long stalemate in the negotiations and calling for a solution.
The marches were organized by Greek and Turkish Cypriot political parties, trade unions and civil society NGOs, ahead of a crucial meeting next week.
The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has invited Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community Mustafa Akinci to meet him in Berlin on Monday.
His aim is to secure an agreement on the terms of reference for renewed negotiations, which Guterres had declared to be at an impasse more than two years ago at the end of a failed international conference in Switzerland.
The petitions demanded that they resume negotiations from the point they were left off, with the aim of reaching an agreement as soon as possible.
The marchers expressed concern that a further prolongation of the impasse will lead to a permanent partition of Cyprus.
They said the Berlin meeting is an important opportunity to open the way for a Cyprus settlement which will create a federal bi-communal state made up of two politically equal constituent parts.
