US vice president: Cyprus peace deal possible

LARNACA, Cyprus (AP) — U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday hailed Washington’s newly minted “strategic partnership” with Cyprus and expressed hope that a long elusive reunification accord could turn the east Mediterranean island into a source of stability in a tumultuous region.

Biden, the most senior American official to visit Cyprus since his predecessor Lyndon Johnson in 1962, voiced strong support for a new round of talks to reunify the island, which was divided along ethnic lines in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece.