Cyprus meeting cancelled over 'Enosis' controversy

By Murat Demirci

LEFKOSA (AA) – A meeting between Turkish and Greek Cypriot negotiators was cancelled Tuesday over a Greek Cypriot move to honor “Enosis,” or the idea of Cyprus being annexed by Greece.

On Monday, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus President Mustafa Akinci told reporters that the meeting on the island between Turkish Cypriot negotiator Ozdil Nami and Greek Cypriot negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis "will probably not be held" due to the controversial move.

The Greek Cypriot parliament voted Friday to introduce a yearly public school commemoration of a 1950 referendum in which Greek Cypriots voted overwhelmingly for Greece to annex the island.

On Monday, Mustafa Akinci asked UN Cyprus Envoy Espen Barth Eide to urge the leader of the Greek Cypriot administration not to approve the decision.

The eastern Mediterranean island was divided into a Turkish Cypriot state in the north and a Greek Cypriot administration in the south after a 1974 military coup was followed by the intervention of Turkey as a guarantor power.

The issue of reunification of Cyprus remains unsolved despite a series of discussions which resumed in May 2015.

The main goal is to find a political solution as the sides seek to reunify the island under a federal system after more than 40 years of division.

Cyprus’ three guarantors -- Turkey, Greece, and Great Britain -- were assigned when it gained independence from the U.K. in 1960.