The UN has confirmed that Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman will be meeting on Friday with former representative of the Turkish Cypriot leader Ozdil Nami on Friday, outside UN premises.

A UN official has said that “yes, Under Secretary General Feltman will meet tomorrow with Mr. Ozdil Nami in his capacity as the former representative of the Turkish Cypriot leader and an important interlocutor from the Turkish Cypriot community in the Cyprus negotiations context”.

The focus of the meeting, he added “is to exchange views on the state-of-play in the negotiations and discuss the way forward in light of the resumption of the talks agreed to by the leaders on 11 February”.

It was further clarified that “the meeting will take place outside of the UN premises”.

UN sources say that Turkish Cypriot negotiator Kudret Ozersay is expected to visit New York in the coming days.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third.

Previous UN-backed efforts to reunify the island have failed. Cyprus talks resumed, under UN auspices, in February, following an agreement on a joint declaration by the leaders of the island’s two communities, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu.

The two leaders are set to meet at the end of March while the negotiators of the two sides, who held meetings in Ankara and Athens, meet periodically at the UN Protected Area in Nicosia.