Evrychou: A systematic and strategically designed effort is underway to resume negotiations for the resolution of the Cyprus issue, after many years, President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, said on Friday evening, addressing an event in the mountainous community of Evrychou. According to Cyprus News Agency, the President expressed his satisfaction that this effort is yielding results so far and reaffirmed his will to continue in this direction. He noted that he had a busy week, with the visit of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and European Union's Envoy in Cyprus. Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results due to Turkish intransigence. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, whose term nears its end, announced he would convene another meeting in broader format, af ter adequate preparation, but gave no timeline. He secured to that end the consensus of both sides and of the guarantor powers. María Angela Holguín, Guterres' Personal Envoy on Cyprus, is tasked to engage with the parties. Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto acts as the European Commission's Special Representative for Cyprus, succeeding EU special envoy Johannes Hahn.