A televised address by President Nicos Anastasiades on Friday evening will inform the public why suspended UN-brokered Cyprus peace talks will resume as of next week following surprise developments late on Thursday.

The address is scheduled to be aired around 8pm, according to an official announcement.

Earlier on Friday, opposition hardliner parties slammed the President over the outcome of a UN-hosted dinner in Nicosia for Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, the outcome of which was the resumption of the peace process.

Their criticism is that the President has given in to all demands by Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot side – that is, a date for a multi-party conference without agreement first on the thorny territory issue. This was a red line for the Greek Cypriot side.

A UN statement after the dinner said the talks were to start immediately in Cyprus, followed by a conference in Geneva, Switzerland, on January 9, to be attended solely by the Cypriot camps.

Representatives of guarantor powers Greece, Turkey and the Britain will thereafter join the conference from January 12. The two sides will present their respective maps on January 11.

At the same time, Akıncı told journalists in the north on Friday that “an entirely new conjuncture has been opened. This is what we have been asking and wishing for”.

He added: “Now we have a date for five-party conference. We now know what we will do in advance of that”.

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