23 February 2017

Al Jazeera: Cyprus talks falter over nationalist commemoration row

Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci were scheduled to meet on Thursday at the divided island's buffer zone.

But tensions rose in recent days after a February 10 vote by Greek Cypriot MPs for public schools to honour the anniversary of a 1950 referendum for union with Greece, or "enosis" (the Greek word for union). [...]

The two sides are scheduled to be joined by Greece, Turkey and the UK, Cyprus's three post-colonial guarantor powers, in a meeting scheduled for early March in Geneva. A similar meeting in January ended without concrete progress.

The new regulation, which calls on secondary school students to learn about the enosis ideal and to commemorate the January 1950 referendum at schools, passed by 19 votes from the smaller parties in the 50 seat House of Representatives.

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