This week, there are important new meetings in Cyprus. They are the biggest effort in years to restart peace talks. The United Nations is organizing the meetings. Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot negotiators will meet first. Then, the island's leaders will have a joint meeting with the UN's special envoy, María Ángela Holguín. A senior European Union envoy is also visiting. This has created some hope for progress.
The UN envoy, Holguín, arrived last Thursday. Since then, she has had separate meetings with Greek Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman. Her job is to see if both sides are willing to talk and find common ground. The last major peace talks stopped in 2017.
The meetings are happening step by step. Negotiators will meet on Wednesday. Their work prepares for the main meeting on Thursday. On Thursday, the two leaders and the UN envoy will meet together. In a positive move, the two leaders will also visit the Committee on Missing Persons. This committee works on a sad result of the island's division.
The EU's envoy, Johannes Hahn, is also coming on Thursday. This is important because Cyprus is an EU member. A Greek Cypriot spokesman said Hahn's visit at the same time is a "fortunate coincidence." It shows the world is watching.
Before the talks, the Greek Cypriot president will meet with his National Council. The hope is that Thursday's meeting will be the "first step" to new negotiations. However, experts say that while talking is good, a final peace agreement will be very difficult. There are still big disagreements.
The presence of both UN and EU envoys shows the world wants to help. People are not expecting a solution this week. Instead, they are looking for a real promise to start serious talks. The island is waiting to see if this new activity can lead to lasting peace.