Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias on Tuesday said the resumption of UN-brokered peace talks present a "window of opportunity" to reunify the divided island of Cyprus.
"We are facing a window of opportunity for Cyprus, as American diplomats say," Kotzias told a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, in Ankara.
Rival Cypriot leaders agreed Monday to resume peace negotiations next week to reach a settlement after four decades of division.
The announcement came after UN envoy Espen Barth Eide hosted a dinner for Nicos Anastasiades, the Greek Cypriot leader, and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart, the newly-elected Mustafa Akinci.
The two leaders had agreed it was "important to use the momentum created and this new opportunity to move forward without delay."
Reunification talks -- which are due to restart on May 15 -- have been suspended since October.
It was the first time the two leaders have met since Akinci -- seen as pro-reunification -- was elected Turkish Cypriot leader last month.
In his first visit to the Turkish capital as foreign minister, Kotzias -- speaking in Greek -- said "a settlement to the Cyprus problem will help solve a lot of problems in the region."
He hailed Akinci's election in the north as an "important opportunity".
Kotzias previously served as an advisor to former Greek foreign minister George Papandreou in the late 1990s, and was one of the forces behind the so-called "earthquake diplomacy" of the period, which initiated a long period of Turkish-Greek rapprochement.
Cavusoglu said there were enough reasons to be "optimistic", branding the two leaders' meeting as an "important development".
"2015 is a good opportunity. Let's not miss this window of opportunity," he said.
A UN-monitored ceasefire line has divided the island since 1974 when Turkish troops occupied its northern third in response to an Athens-inspired coup seeking union with Greece.
Turkish Cypriots, who had already pulled out of government institutions in the face of communal violence in 1963, declared their breakaway state in 1983.
But their state is recognised only by Turkey, which provides around a third of its budget.
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