Cyprus peace talks postponed a week

NICOSIA, Cyprus, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Cyprus peace talks set for Thursday were postponed after a Greek Cypriot pilgrimage to the island's Turkish Cypriot north was canceled, Greek Cypriots said.

The talks between Greek Cypriot President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, which broke off in August, are to resume next Thursday, Ansa Mediterranean, part of the Italian news agency, reported.

Despite the meeting's cancellation, the two leaders spoke by phone, facilitated by the special United Nations envoy to Cyprus, Alexander Downer of Australia.

The talks on creating a workable structure for the ethnically split island started Sept. 3, 2008, and completed their first round Aug. 6.

Diplomats had hoped Thursday's talks would heal a conflict not only driving a wedge between Cyprus's Greeks and Turks, but also hurting Turkey's prospects of joining the European Union.

Some 650 Greek Cypriot pilgrims on 27 buses trying to get to the Church of Agios Mamas, named after third-century child martyr St. Mamas, alleged they were stopped and held by Turkish Cypriot authorities at a crossing in Limnitis, a village in northwestern Cyprus's Tilliria region.

The extended checkpoint stop -- lasting nearly two hours to check just the first two buses -- prompted the pilgrims to cancel their trip, the Cyprus Mail reported.