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NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) \u2014 The government of ethnically split Cyprus<\/a> on Friday promised breakaway Turkish Cypriots a package of measures aimed at winning their trust ahead of a renewed United Nations attempt to revive long-dormant peace talks.<\/p>\n It includes promises to expedite citizenship applications, grant pensions to widows, offer more job training opportunities and allow easier access to Muslim places of worship, the government announced.<\/p>\n \u201cTurkish Cypriots are citizens of the Cyprus Republic, we\u2019re showing that in practice,\u201d Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides told reporters Friday.<\/p>\n Cyprus was divided along ethnic lines in 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup aimed at uniting with Greece. Only Turkey recognizes a Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence over the island\u2019s northern third, where it maintains more than 35,000 troops.<\/p>\n The package of 14 measures also includes providing urgently needed medication, expanded trade of goods between the breakaway north and the internationally recognized south, and easing north-south crossings at eight checkpoints along a 180-kilometer (120-mile) United Nations-controlled buffer zone.<\/p>\n It comes a few days before the U.N. secretary-general\u2019s newly appointed personal envoy<\/a> Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar, visits Cyprus to get a sense from both sides of whether there\u2019s enough common ground for a resumption of peace talks after more than six years of complete stalemate.<\/p>\n Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar earlier this week dismissed the measures as a Greek Cypriot attempt to impose sovereignty and subjugate Turkish Cypriots while trying to impress Holguin.<\/p>\n Although Cyprus joined the EU in 2004, only the south where Greek Cypriots are located enjoys full membership benefits.<\/p>\n The fact that U.N. Chief Antonio Guterres has appointed an envoy to let him know whether talks are worth another try signals a large measure of caution following numerous failed attempts<\/a> to produce an accord. The two sides have grown farther apart since the last major push for progress in the summer of 2017.<\/p>\n Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots say the only way to peace is a two-state deal, ditching an agreement to reunify the island as a federation composed of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot zones.<\/p>\n The majority Greek Cypriots reject anything that would formalize partition, as well as demands for a Turkish Cypriot veto on all federal-level government decisions, a permanent Turkish troop presence and Turkish military intervention rights.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n