Cyprus's president has said he and the UN secretary-general share the view that progress on efforts to reunify the ethnically divided island is unlikely before next month's referendum in Turkey on expanding presidential powers.
President Nicos Anastasiades said after talks with Antonio Guterres that peace negotiations which stalled amid a dispute over Cyprus's tumultuous history could resume soon.
But Mr Anastasiades said because of the referendum, "it may not be time" for Turkish and Turkish Cypriot officials to "make those necessary decisions" that would move the process forward on key issues preventing an accord.
Those issues include Turkey's insistence on keeping troops and military intervention rights after Cyprus's reunification as a federation.
Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece.
AP
Press Association
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/turkey-vote-prevents-peace-talks-progress-says-cyprus-president-35556558.html