Meeting between Cypriot leaders postponed

A first meeting between Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and newly-elected Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci scheduled for Saturday has been postponed until next week, a government spokesman said Wednesday.

The spokesman said the postponement was due to faulty coordination between the two sides.

"The postponement is immaterial. What counts is that the meeting will take place and not its timing," he said.

Akinci, a leftist moderate politician, swept to power in a vote in the northern part of Cyprus which Turkey has occupied since 1974, in reaction to a coup inspired by the Greek junta ruling the country at the time.

He succeeded nationalist hardliner Dervis Eroglu, who is known to be opposed to a reunited Cyprus solution.

Akinci, who will officially take office on Thursday, has pledged to work for a solution which will reunify Cyprus, irking Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who warned him he will not be allowed to do as his likes.

Anastasiades has said he would present to Akinci at their first meeting a list of unilateral confidence building measures in a move to boost negotiations, expected to restart in May after a hiatus of seven months.

A United Nations envoy will arrive in Nicosia on Monday to make arrangements for the resumption of negotiations.