Rival Cyprus leaders at rare meeting in buffer zone

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar on Tuesday attended a reception hosted by Colin Stewart, the new head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission on Cyprus.

Stewart hosted the leaders at an informal reception at the Ledra Palace Hotel, in the buffer zone of the island's divided capital Nicosia.

It was billed primarily as a social event geared toward breaking the ice between the two leaders in the absence of formal talks.

"We have energy to continue to push your people to solve these little problems that really affect the lives, the everyday lives of Cypriots," Stewart said.

The event came after Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry rebuffed a Turkish push for a two-state peace deal on ethnically divided Cyprus, saying that any talks should adhere to a U.N.-backed road map reunifying the east Mediterranean island nation as a federation.

Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup aiming at union with Greece - only Turkey recognizes a Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence in the island's north where it keeps more than 35,000 troops.

Turkey and the breakaway Turkish Cypriots insist that a two-state deal is the only feasible alternative after nearly a half-century of failed talks aimed at a forging a federation made up of separate Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot zones.

Greek Cypriots fear a two-state deal would entrench Turkish control potentially over the entire island as well as hydrocarbon deposits off its shores.