The World : Greek Cypriots OK Reunification Talks

Cyprus President George Vassiliou has agreed to meet with Rauf Denktash, the leader of this Mediterranean island’s breakaway Turkish state, to discuss reunification, a Greek Cypriot government announcement said. Vassiliou agreed to a proposal by U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar to hold the talks, the announcement said. In a recent report to the U.N. Security Council, Perez de Cuellar said he proposed to Vassiliou and Denktash that they meet soon without preconditions to seek a settlement based on a two-state federation. Cyprus has been divided since Turkish troops invaded in 1974 and captured the northern third of the island after an abortive Greek Cypriot coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece.