Athens/Nicosia - Rival leaders in Cyprus decided Thursday to accelerate the pace of UN-led reunification talks to end the decades- old division of the eastern Mediterranean island. Governance and power-sharing are the among the top issues Greek Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat hoped to reach agreement on by the end of October.
The UN has repeatedly indicated that there is no fixed deadline to conclude the talks, which are progressing on a chapter-by-chapter basis.
The UN Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus, Taye- Brook Zerihoun, in statements after the meeting, said the two leaders plan to meet again on October 7 and 8 and will hold two more meetings on the following week, on October 14 and 15.
"The leaders have decided to keep this accelerated pace - to meet at least twice in the coming month. As you know the pace so far has been once a week so this is quite positive, and they are upbeat about it themselves," said Zerihoun.
He added that in the interim, representatives and experts from both sides will meet to discuss the proposals that have been submitted by each side on the issue of executive power in order to narrow the differences or to come up with bridging ideas.
Greek and Turkish Cypriots launched renewed peace talks last September, but the pace has been slow after nearly 40 meetings at an abandoned airport inside the UN-controlled buffer zone.
The first round covered the groundwork on six chapters: governance and power-sharing; EU matters; security and guarantees; territory; property and economic matters.
The eastern Mediterranean island has been divided since a Turkish invasion in 1974, sparked by a brief Greek-inspired coup.
Greek Cypriots have lived in the south of Cyprus and Turkish Cypriots in the north, split by a United Nations-supervised buffer zone which runs through the heart of the island's capital.
The 35-year conflict continues to pose a headache for diplomats. In 2004, Greek Cypriots rejected a UN settlement blueprint a week before the island joined the EU as a divided state.
Both ethnic communities agree, on paper, to reunite the island's two halves in the latest round of UN-led peace talks, but disagree on how it will work. Other disputes include the complex issue of property lost during the invasion.
Cyprus' leaders have agreed to put any peace deal to a simultaneous referendum in both communities.
EU officials have said that progress in the Cyprus reunification talks will be essential to move Turkey's slow-moving EU accession process forward.
Ankara's EU membership talks, which began in October 2005, have been partially frozen because of the situation on the island.
Turkey does not recognise the Greek Cypriot government and supports the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in northern Cyprus where it has stationed more than 40,000 troops.
Greek Cypriots say they will not agree to Turkey joining the bloc as long as the island is partitioned. Ankara's progress in membership talks will be assessed later this year.
