Turkey and the U.K. have agreed upon the importance of reaching a settlement on the divided island of Cyprus ahead of next week’s summit in the Swiss capital, Geneva, according to a Downing Street statement on Saturday. The Cyprus reunification talks will start on Jan. 9 in Geneva, but they resumed in May 2015, and both sides have repeatedly expressed optimism that a solution would be found by the end of last year. If a deal is reached on territorial changes, negotiators are expected to announce a date for a final summit between the Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders and three other states involved in the process as guarantor countries: Turkey, Greece, and the U.K. Once a final agreement is reached, it would be put to both communities in a referendum.
