Cyprus' president meets Greek PM ahead of Geneva meeting

ATHENS, April 21 (Xinhua) -- The Republic of Cyprus will be represented at the upcoming conference in Geneva convened by United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres to find a way for the island's Greek and Turkish communities to feel safe, Cyprus' President Nicos Anastasiades said here on Wednesday.

The UN has scheduled a meeting for April 27-29 with the aim of restarting negotiations for a settlement of the long-standing Cyprus issue.

"Our effort is to find a way for both communities (on the island of Cyprus) to feel safe and for the human rights of both communities to be guaranteed," Anastasiades said during his meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek national broadcaster ERT reported.

Ahead of the Geneva conference, Anastasiades visited Greece to coordinate their stance, according to an e-mailed press release from the Greek prime minister's office.

The leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, as well as the so-called guarantor powers -- Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom -- will participate in the Geneva meeting.

The UN hopes for the resumption of the Cyprus peace negotiations, which broke down in 2017, in order to find a solution for the island, which has been split since 1974 along ethnic lines.

The Greek Cypriots have said that they will negotiate along the lines of the UN resolutions for the reunification of the island based on a federal model, while the Turkish Cypriots said they will pursue a two-state solution.

"We always enter into dialogue with a good will to find a solution that will be fair, functional and viable and will benefit all Cypriots, both Greek and Turkish Cypriots," Mitsotakis said.