The two leaders of the ethnically divided Island of Cyprus will decide on July 25 whether to proceed to direct reunification talks, Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias said Tuesday. Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat have held several meetings to discuss progress made by working and technical groups striving to set the groundwork for the start of peace talks to end the decades-old division of the island, DPA reported. The leaders have not set an exact date for the start of the talks but diplomatic officials expect it to take place sometime in the autumn. "At the next meeting with Talat on July 25 and after a final review of results and work of preparatory teams we will decide whether to move to direct talks," Christofias told a news conference to mark 120 days since his election as president in February. A panel of six working groups and seven technical committees from both sides of the ethnic divide have been meeting on a regular basis since mid-April in an attempt to prepare for the talks. The team of experts are working on a range of issues ranging from environmental protection, health, security, power-sharing, culture, ways of linking the island's two economies as well as property and territory disputes.
