Anastasiades, Tatar to attend UN reception

President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar will at 19.00 on Tuesday attend a reception hosted by the UN at the Ledra Palace Hotel in the buffer zone in Nicosia.

Both accepted the invitation of the new UNSG Special Representative Colin Stewart who said on Friday that it is an informal social event without an agenda. Stewart had his first separate meetings with the two leaders on Friday.

He has also expressed the hope that tonight’s reception “will be another chance to get to know the leaders better, let them have some time among themselves as well and hopefully get off to a good start.”

Due to the pandemic, the reception will be held with limited participations. Besides the two leaders, Greek Cypriot negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis, special representative of Turkish Cypriot leader Ergun Olgun and the head of the Technical Committees of both sides will attend the event.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied 37% of its territory. Numerous rounds of talks under the UN aegis to reunite the island under a federal roof failed to yield results.