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NICOSIA — A senior U.N. envoy said Wednesday he was confident that Cyprus would reunify following separate meetings with Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders.
B. Lynn Pascoe, the U.N.'s undersecretary-general for political affairs, said he was "very encouraged" with what he heard Monday while meeting with leaders of the divided island.
"I'm confident that the two sides, with our help, will succeed and we will do everything we can to support and help the two leaders," Pascoe said. "Everyone has been extraordinarily encouraging about moving the process forward."
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 short-lived coup by people who wanted to unite the island with Greece.
Peace talks have been stalled since 2004, when Greek Cypriot voters rejected a U.N. settlement plan in a referendum. Turkish Cypriots backed the plan.
Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat met last month and agreed to open a crossing between the two parts of the island at a popular pedestrian shopping street in the heart of the divided capital.
