The negotiators of the two sides in Cyprus talks Menelaos Menelaou and Ergun Olgun met Thursday morning for the first time after the holidays and the New Year celebrations and assessed the course of work in the technical committees.

The meeting lasted for an hour and was attended by UNSG special representative Colin Stewart.

Cyprus News Agency has learnt that the two negotiators discussed issues pending as regards the work of the technical committees and touched base after the holidays.

There was no discussion on a report in Turkish Cypriot daily ‘Yeni Duzen’ on statements attributed to Stewart which caused the reaction of the government and led MFA’s spokesperson to call on Stewart to reject the article and deny the allegations. The government is closely monitoring the situation and has made representations.

As regards a farewell dinner between Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar as Anastasiades tenure is coming to an end, the UN are waiting for a suitable date for both sides and this is the only thing pending.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.