The talks, which are held under the UN aegis, started on Wednesday. Delegations from the Greek and Turkish comminities on Cyprus, as well as Greek Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis and Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul take part in the talks.
However, the talks were stopped on Thursday, since the main negotiators left for Brussels in order to participate in the two-day EU summit.
Leader of Turkish-Cypriots Rauf Denktash refused to come to the talks personally and sent instead his son, Foreign Minister of the self-proclaimed Turkish republic of Northern Cyprus, Serdar Denktash, and Vice Premier Mehmet Ali Talat.
UN Secretary-General special representative on Cyprus affairs Alvaro de Soto chaired the conference before the arrival of Mr. Annan.
The UN representatives hope that in accordance with the results of the talks, which are due to be over on March 31st, the final text of the agreement on the integration of Cyprus will be ready.
If the both sides manage to come to an agreement in Buergenstock on the integration of the island, than the united Cyprus will be admitted to the EU on May 1, 2004. Otherwise, only the Greek part of Cyprus will be admitted to the EU. It's noteworthy that Ankara is still in the waiting list of the annexation to the EU and the concrete date of its joining was not yet announced. It's easy to guess that the main reason for that is Athens (the existing territorial problem is considered to be the main obstacle for the obtainment of the EU membership).
Cyprus was divided in two parts, Greek and Turkish in 1974, after Turkish Army had occupied almost 40% of the island.
