The auguries for today's Cypriot summit are mixed. On the positive side, it will be the first face-to-face meeting in four years between President Glafkos Clerides and the Turkish Cypriot leader Mr Rauf Denktash. The encounter is at the request of Mr Denktash, who previously set conditions unacceptable to the Greek Cypriots.
The venue is in Cyprus rather than abroad. The summit will take place in the UN buffer zone which separates the Greek Cypriot majority republic in the south and the Turkish Cypriot breakaway north.
Although Mr Denktash preferred a one-to-one encounter, Mr Alvaro de Soto, the UN secretary general's envoy, will be present, keeping the negotiating process firmly within the UN ambit and based on UN proposals.
The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, who arrives in Ankara today said he would encourage the Turkish governmentto seek a Cyprus settlement. Ahead of his visit Mr Powell stated: "I'd like to see greater momentum with respect to moving forward on Cyprus and I will explore . . . what might be done but I'm not coming with any specific suggestion or plan."
Last month, the Turkish parliament held a closed session on Cyprus and the Turkish public began to openly discuss the Cyprus issue.
Public debate surfaced after Turkish Cypriot youths revealed in a televised programme that they resented the presence in the north of 30,000 troops and thousands of mainland settlers as well as Ankara's economic and political domination of the area.
On the eve of the talks, Turkish Cypriot opposition parties handed Mr Denktash a letter calling for the reunification of the island in a bizonal, bicommunal federation, the solution proposed by the UN and accepted by the Greek Cypriots. Finally, the Turkish press is predicting that there could be a second summit this week.
On the negative side, Mr Denktash still clings to his own plan for a loose confederation of two equal sovereign states rejected by the Greek Cypriots. Time is running out for a solution.
The EU is set to complete accession talks with the republic next year. Entry will take place with or without the Turkish Cypriots. The Prime Minister of Turkey, Mr Bulent Ecevit, has warned that if Cyprus is admitted as a member state, Turkey could annex the north. He suggested that Turkey could give up its own bid for EU membership rather than compromise on Cyprus and said that forcing Turkish and Greek Cypriots to live together could result in "genocide", sparking war between Greece and Turkey.
